Biodegradable polymer blends for applications in field-effect transistors.
Maria Paola Bracciale,
a
Alessandra Broggi,
a
Maria Laura Santarelli,
a
Antonio Facchetti,
b
and
Assunta Marrocchi
c
.
a
Department of Chemical Engineering Materials Environment, University of Rome Sapienza,
via Eudossiana 18, 00185 Rome, Italy;
b
Polyera Corporation, 8045 Lamon Avenue, Skokie, Illinois 60077, United States,
and Department of Chemistry and the Materials Research Center, Northwestern University,
2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, Illinois 60208-3113, United States;
c
Department of Chemistry, Biology and Biotechnology, University of Perugia,
via Elce di Sotto 8, 06123 Perugia, Italy.
E-mail:
Organic semiconductors hold the promise of simple and straight-forward manufacturing over
large areas, low fabrication cost, flexibility and light weight, thus emerging as viable
alternatives for cost-effective photovoltaic cells (OPVs), light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), thin-
film transistors (OTFTs), and chemical/biological sensors. The electrical performance of
OFETs is now comparable or exceeds that of amorphous Si: H FETs [1]. One way to obtain
the required properties for a particular device is to blend two or more organic components
with the aim of inducing desirable features in organic semiconductor-based structures
combining the advantageous properties of each or even exceeding the performance of the
individual components [2]. Blended systems provide additional benefits, such as lower cost,
due to the reduced amount of semiconducting polymer required and the potential for self-
encapsulation of the functional material by the matrix polymer, since typical organic
semiconductors are susceptible to atmospheric degradation. To date the majority of studies
have focused on the design of new systems able to match the performance of their inorganic
counterparts, and the issues of biodegradability and biocompatibility of the materials
employed in organic electronics are often not considered. In this regard,, we report on a
preliminary investigation of the physical nanostructure, surface chemical composition and
electrical characteristics as a function of blend component ratio using high-performing
polymer semiconductors [3] in combination with suitable biomass-derived biodegradable
polymers without detrimental effects on the resulting device characteristics even at high
contents of the insulator.
[1] J. Li, Y. Zhao, H. S.Tan, Y. L. Guo, C. A. Di, G. Yu, Y. Q. Liu, M. Lin, S. H. Lim, Y.
Zhou, H. Su, B. S. Ong, Sci. Rep. 2012, 2, 754:1.
[2] A. D. Scaccabarozzi, N. Stingelin, J. Mater. Chem. A 2014, 2, 10818.
[3] X. Guo, R. Ponce Ortiz, Y. Zheng, M. G. Kim, S. Zhang, Y. Hu, G. Lu, A. Facchetti, T. J.
Marks, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2011, 133, 13685.
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