Low‐Voltage Polyelectrolyte‐Gated Polymer Field‐Effect Transistors Gravure Printed at High Speed on Flexible Plastic Substrates

This study reports the fabrication of polymer field-effect transistors operating under a bias of |1 V| in which the insulator and semiconductor are gravure-printed on plastic at the high speed of 0.7 m s−1. Remarkably, the process does not necessitate any surface modification and relies solely on the careful selection and optimization of formulations based on solvent blends. In addition to demonstrating high-throughput fabrication, this study fulfills another requirement for organic electronics and achieves low-voltage operation in ambient air by using a polyelectrolyte insulator, poly(4-styrenesulfonic acid) (PSSH). PSSH is a proton conductor that forms electrical double layers at the interfaces with the gate electrode and the semiconductor channel upon application of a small gate voltage (≤ |1 V|). Printed PSSH exhibits a high capacitance of 10 µF cm−2, leading to a printed poly(3-hexylthiophene) hole mobility above 0.1 cm2 V−1 s−1 in a bottom-gate, top-contact configuration.

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