Single electrospun regioregular poly(3-hexylthiophene) nanofiber field-effect transistor

Abstract

We report on a single nanofiber field-effect transistor made from electrospun regioregular poly(3-hexylthiophene). Nanofibers, with diameters of 100–500 nm, were deposited by electrospinning from chloroform solution onto electrodes on a SiO2∕Si substrate. The transistor exhibited a hole field-effect mobility of 0.03cm2∕Vs in the saturation regime, and a current on/off ratio of 103 in the accumulation mode. Electrospinning offers a simple means of fabricating one-dimensional polymer transistors.

Large-scale organic nanowire lithography and electronics

“…Despite the many advantages of NWs, a reliable process for large-scale and controllable assembly of highly aligned NW parallel arrays based on 'individual control (IC)' of NWs must be developed, because inorganic NWs are mostly grown vertically on substrates and thus have been transferred to the target substrates by any of several non-IC methods, such as the random dispersion method with disordered alignment 4 , and contact-printing technologies with unidirectional massive alignment 5 . In contrast to the significant efforts and in-depth research on inorganic NW devices, devices based on 'organic semiconducting' NWs (OSNWs) 6 have not been studied intensively, possibly because of the lack of a reliable IC process to fabricate highly aligned OSNW arrays [7][8][9][10][11] , and to the lower charge-carrier mobility of OSNWs compared with inorganic semiconducting NWs. However, as organic semiconductors have many advantages, such as solution processibility, simplicity of designing molecules to tune electronic properties and the possibility of large-scale synthesis and multi-component systems at low cost, they are also promising for use in flexible electronic and optoelectronic devices 6,7,12,13 .…”

Nanomembranes and Nanofibers from Biodegradable Conducting Polymers

“…Among the semiconducting polymers, poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) has been considered the best candidate since it has very high field effect mobilities (i.e., 0.1 cm 2 /V· s can be attained) [126]. A single nanofiber field-effect transistor (FET) made from electrospun P3HT has been reported and demonstrated that electrospinning offers a simple means of fabricating one-dimensional polymer transistors [127]. Nanofibers, with diameters of 100-500 nm, were deposited by electrospinning from chloroform solution onto electrodes on a SiO 2 /Si substrate.…”

Fabrication of Conjugated Polymer Nanowires by Edge Lithography

“…Penner and co-workers have developed a technique of electrodeposition in a template that can produce electrically addressable nanowires confined to trenches, 23 but it requires electron-beam lithography, is limited to materials that polymerize in situ, and is only compatible with rigid substrates, to which the nanowires are permanently attached. Craighead and co-workers have used scanned electrospinning 24 to deposit single nanowires of polyaniline 6 and poly(3-hexylthiophene) 11 on a rotating substrate, while Xia and coworkers have developed an approach to deposit uniaxial collections of nanofibers of a range of inorganic and organic materials. 25,26 Processes involving two or more techniques in combination have also been reported: Chi et al have patterned high-density arrays of polypyrrole and polyaniline by a process comprising electron-beam and nanoimprint lithographies.…”

“…Incorporation of molecular recognition elements into conjugated polymer nanowires is relatively straightforward by synthesis; analogous modifications of carbon nanotubes and inorganic nanowires require surface reaction(s) carried out postfabrication. 8 Other possible uses for conjugated polymer nanowires are as tools for studying one-dimensional charge transport 21 or as field-effect transistors, 11 actuators, 22 or interconnects. 12 Despite the growing interest in conjugated polymer nanowires, there is not yet a truly general technique for the fabrication of these structures.…”

“…[1][2][3][4][5] We measured conductivity through groups of 50 to several hundred of these nanowires, which can have cross sectional widths and heights of ∼100 nm, over distances as long as 100 µm. Polymer nanowires are versatile structures that are sensitive chemical 6,7 and biological 8 sensors, field-effect transistors, [9][10][11] interconnects in electronic circuitry, 12 and tools for studying one-dimensional charge transport in materials. 13 Of the methods available for the fabrication of conjugated polymer nanowires, most are specific to certain combinations of materials and substrates, and many require expensive or specialized equipment.…”