Faithin Omaha eBook Collection

Download or read book Understanding Charge Transport in Semiconducting Polymers for Applications in Organic Electronics and Bioelectronics written by Duc T. Duong and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs), in recent years, have emerged as promis- ing devices for fabricating biosensors using semiconducting polymers. Although in- organic materials have long dominated the semiconductor market, organic semicon- ductors have been found to be much better candidates for interfacing with biological systems due to their high chemical variability, low elastic moduli and ability to per- form both electronic and ionic transport. Because ionic species can penetrate highly porous polymer films leading to large interfacial areas, OECT devices typically ex- hibit extremely large capacitances and display among the highest transconductance values in published literature. Despite great technological advancements in device fabrication and designs over the last decade, there still lacks a thorough understanding of electronic transport, molec- ular doping, and device physics in these systems. My doctoral research focused on developing a more complete picture of these fundamental processes in OECTs. The first few chapters of this thesis will be dedicated to our work in characterizing poly- mer crystal structures, film formation and microstructures, and charge percolation in semiconducting polymer thin films. Subsequently, I will discuss how we can control- lably dope polymer thin films, and the physical and chemical properties that affect the doping process. In the last parts, I will present our electrical model for predicting OECT device responses and how we can extract useful device and biological properties in sensing experiments. Our findings provide important, fundamental insights into physical and electronic processes in semiconducting polymers, and are indispensable for designing better materials and biosensors.