Organic field-effect transistors
(OFETs) are emerging as competitive candidates for gas sensing applications
due to the ease of their fabrication process combined with the ability
to readily fine-tune the properties of organic semiconductors. Nevertheless,
some key challenges remain to be addressed, such as material degradation,
low sensitivity, and poor selectivity toward toxic gases. Appropriately,
a heterojunction combination of different sensing layers with multifunctional
capabilities offers great potential to overcome these problems. Here,
a novel and highly sensitive receptor layer is proposed encompassing
a porous 3D metal–organic framework (MOF) based on isostructural-fluorinated
MOFs acting as an NO2 specific preconcentrator, on the
surface of a stable and ultrathin PDVT-10 organic semiconductor on
an OFET platform. Here, with this proposed combination we have unveiled
an unprecedented 700% increase in sensitivity toward NO2 analyte in contrast to the pristine PDVT-10. The resultant combination
for this OFET device exhibits a remarkable lowest detection limit
of 8.25 ppb, a sensitivity of 680 nA/ppb, and good stability over
a period of 6 months under normal laboratory conditions. Further,
a negligible response (4.232 nA/%RH) toward humidity in the range
of 5%–90% relative humidity was demonstrated using this combination.
Markedly, the obtained results support the use of the proposed novel
strategy to achieve an excellent sensing performance with an OFET
platform.