Tailoring the Electrochemical and Mechanical Properties of PEDOT:PSS Films for Bioelectronics

Abstract

The effect of 3-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane (GOPS) content in poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) dispersions on the properties of films spun cast from these formulations is investigated. It has been found out that the concentration of GOPS has a tremendous, yet gradual impact on the electrical, electrochemical, and mechanical properties of the PEDOT:PSS/GOPS films and that there is an optimum concentration which maximizes a particular feature of the film such as its water uptake or elasticity. The benefits of aqueous stability and mechanical strength with GOPS are to be compensated by an increase in the electrochemical impedance. GOPS aids obtaining excellent mechanical integrity in aqueous media with still highly conducting properties. Moreover, active devices like organic electrochemical transistors that contain 1 wt% GOPS, which is a concentration that leads to film with high electrical conductivity with sufficient mechanical stability and softness, exhibit steady performance over three weeks. These results suggest that variations in the concentration of such an additive like GOPS can enable a facile co-optimization of electrical and mechanical properties of a conducting polymer film for in vivo bioelectronics application.

Smaller Counter Cation for Higher Transconductance in Anionic Conjugated Polyelectrolytes

“…Garcia and Nguyen obtained a similar effect by adding polyethylene glycol (PEG) to an anionic CPE . A drop in electrical conductivity due to addition of GOPS is well known for PEDOT:PSS, as well …”

“…Therefore, we added (3‐glycidyloxypropyl)trimethoxysilane (GOPS) (1 wt%) as crosslinker to a solution of PTHS − X + in deionized water (DI). Including GOPS in PEDOT:PSS dispersions is a common strategy to prevent the dissolution and delamination of films in an aqueous media . Moreover, as we have already shown in a previous work that ethylene glycol (EG) improved the OECT performance of a PTHS − TBA + , we also prepared films spin‐coated from a solution containing 5 vol% EG .…”

“…Including GOPS in PEDOT:PSS dispersions is a common strategy to prevent the dissolution and delamination of films in an aqueous media. [21][22][23] Moreover, as we have already shown in a previous work that ethylene glycol (EG) improved the OECT performance of a PTHS − TBA + , we also prepared films spincoated from a solution containing 5 vol% EG. [13] Unfortunately, the addition of additives may change the aggregation behavior of conjugated backbones.…”

In Situ Electrochemical Synthesis of a Conducting Polymer Composite for Multimetabolite Sensing

“…The capacitance of a polymer film is governed by the charge carrier density (depending on the length of conjugated backbone and the delocalization of the polaron along the chain) and the ability of ions to penetrate the film. A dense network can impose a mechanical barrier for ion penetration whereas a porous film will typically allow for facile penetration as well as enhanced water uptake, which will improve ion transport in water‐swollen channels . The PEDOT film exhibits a relatively smooth surface, while EDOTOH‐based film surfaces are rougher with a larger area, which is expected to contribute to the high capacitance (compare Figure c with d and e).…”

A Cross‐Linked Interconnecting Layer Enabling Reliable and Reproducible Solution‐Processing of Organic Tandem Solar Cells

“…The corresponding J–V characteristics for conductivity measurement are depicted in Figure S1 in the Supporting Information. The electrical conductivity of m‐PEDOT:PSS exhibits a gradual decrease with increasing the amount of GOPS in solution 40. According to the optical absorption spectra presented in Figure S2 (Supporting Information), with increasing the GOPS content, the doping level of PEDOT remained unchanged, since no additional peaks rise at around 900 and 600 nm 41.…”