Copolymer dielectrics with balanced chain-packing density and surface polarity for high-performance flexible organic electronics

• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-04665-z
• Publication Date: 2018-06-08T09:04:41Z
• Authors: Deyang Ji; Tao Li; Ye Zou; Ming Chu; Ke Zhou; Jinyu Liu; Guofeng Tian; Zhaoyang Zhang; Xu Zhang; Liqiang Li; Dezhen Wu; Huanli Dong; Qian Miao; Harald Fuchs; Wenping Hu
• Keywords: Science; Q; 02 engineering and technology; 0210 nano-technology; 7. Clean energy; 01 natural sciences; Article; 0104 chemical sciences

AbstractThe ever-increasing demand for flexible electronics calls for the development of low-voltage and high-mobility organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) that can be integrated into emerging display and labeling technologies. Polymer dielectrics with comprehensive and balanced dielectric properties (i.e., a good balance between their insulating characteristics and compatibility with organic semiconductors) are considered particularly important for this end. Here, we introduce a simple but highly efficient strategy to realize this target by using a new type of copolymer as dielectrics. Benefiting from both high chain packing density guaranteeing dielectric properties and surface polarity optimizing molecular packing of organic semiconductors, this rationally designed copolymer dielectric endows flexible OTFTs with high mobility (5.6 cm2 V−1 s−1), low operating voltage (3 V) and outstanding stability. Further, their applicability in integrated circuits is verified. The excellent device performance shows exciting prospects of this molecular-scale engineered copolymer for the realization of plastic high-performance integrated electronics.