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Side-chain effect of organic semiconductors in OFET-based chemical sensors

有机半导体侧链对基于有机场效应晶体管的化学传感器性能的影响

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Abstract

Organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) offer great potential applications in chemical and biological sensing for homeland security, environmental monitoring, industry manufacturing, and medical/biological detection. Many studies concentrate on sensitivity and selectivity improvement of OFET-based sensors. We report four organic semiconductors with different alkyl side chain lengths but the same π-conjugated core structure for OFETs. Our work focuses on the molecular structure of organic semiconductors (OSCs). Alkyl side chains can hinder the diffusion of ammonia into the OSCs layer, which blocks the interaction between ammonia and conducting channel. The result also reveals the relationship between the alky chain and the film thickness in sensitivity control. These results are expected to be a guide to the molecular design of organic semiconductors and the choice of OSCs.

摘要

有机场效应晶体管在化学和生物传感、国土安全、环境监测、工业生产、医疗生物检测中具有很大的应用前景.如何提高基于有 机场效应晶体管传感器的灵敏度和选择性的研究已有很多报导. 本文用四种具有不同长度的烷基侧链和相同π–π共轭结构的有机半导体 来制备有机场效应晶体管, 集中研究有机半导体的分子结构. 烷基侧链可以减缓氨气在有机半导体层中的扩散, 阻止氨气和导电通道之间 的相互作用. 研究结果揭示了改变烷基侧链长度和薄膜厚度可以调控传感器的灵敏度, 这些结果有助于指导有机半导体材料的分子设计 和种类选择.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21302142 and 51603151), the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2017YFA0103900 and 2017YFA0103904), the 1000 Youth Talent Plan, and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China.

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Correspondence to Jia Huang  (黄佳).

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Dapeng Liu received his bachelor’s degree from the School of Materials Science and Engineering at Tongji University, Shanghai, China. He is currently a PhD student in the School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tongji University. His main research area includes sensors based on organic semiconductor.

Jia Huang is a professor of materials science and engineering at Tongji University, Shanghai, China. He received the BSc degree in materials science and engineering from the University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China, MSc degree in applied science from the College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, VA, USA, and PhD degree in materials science and engineering from Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA. His researches focus on organic semiconductors, flexible electronics, chemical and biological sensors, thin-film transistors, and energy related materials.

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Liu, D., Chu, Y., Wu, X. et al. Side-chain effect of organic semiconductors in OFET-based chemical sensors. Sci. China Mater. 60, 977–984 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40843-017-9121-y

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