Flexible devices for eco-sustainable electronics: Natural polysaccharide as gate dielectric in organic transistors

Abstract

In this paper, firstly, reports on use of various nature originated polysaccharides as gate dielectric candidates for organic field effect transistors (OFETs) to achieve eco-friendliness and eventual biodegradability in devices, are summarized. To emphasize the same, the performance of flexible OFETs fabricated with cyanoethyl cellulose (CEC), a synthetically modified cellulose as gate dielectric is comprehensively investigated. A widely studied TIPS-pentacene: PS blend is used to form the active layer in these devices, showing a p-channel transistor operation at a low voltage of −5 V. Along with high performance, these devices exhibited excellent repeatability and shelf life up to 10 months in ambient conditions. Effect of repeatability, bias-stress, and bending stability were investigated to confirm the decent electrical and bending stability. The device can sustain the transistor performance even after application of 200 bending cycles. Moreover, the effect of annealing temperature on transistor performance was studied to observe their suitability in real applications. These findings suggest that polysaccharides can be suitable gate dielectric for eco-sustainable electronics.

Keywords

• OFETs
• Polysaccharide
• Biodegradable
• Flexible electronics
• Shelf life