Impact of Molecular Weight on the Ionic and Electronic Transport of Self-Doped Conjugated Polyelectrolytes Relevant to Organic Electrochemical Transistors

Abstract

Organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) have gained considerable attention due to their potential applications in emerging biosensor platforms. The use of conjugated polyelectrolytes (CPEs) as active materials in OECTs is particularly advantageous owing to their functional, water-processable, and biocompatible nature, as well as their tunable electronic and ionic transport properties. However, there exists a lack of systematic studies of the structure-property relationships of these materials with respect to OECT performance. This study shows how by tuning the molecular weight of self-doped CPE (CPE-K) it is possible to fabricate OECTs with a µC* value of 14.7 F cm−1 V−1 s−1, one order of magnitude higher than previously reported CPE-based devices. Furthermore, OECTs with a transconductance of 120 mS are demonstrated via device engineering. While CPE-K batches with different molecular weights show good doping behavior and high volumetric capacitance, as confirmed by spectroelectrochemistry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, the medium molecular weight possesses the highest carrier mobility of ≈0.1 cm2 V−1 s−1 leading to the highest transconductance. The enhanced charge transport is due to a favorable charge percolation pathway, as revealed by the combination of X-ray analysis and conductive atomic force microscope. These insights provide guidelines for further improving the performance of CPE-based OECTs.