Abstract
This study investigates the influence of the solvent used to prepare films of a poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and poly(lactic acid) (PLA) blend on the morphology and charge transport mobility of field-effect transistors (FETs). Films prepared from CH2Cl2, a poor solvent for P3HT, tended to form well-defined nanowires, attributable to P3HT self-assembly via a solubility-induced process. This phenomenon resulted in a mobility of 5.30 × 10−3 cm2 (Vs)−1 and an on/off ratio of 3.23 × 103 in a CH2Cl2-solvent P3HT/PLA-blend system with a P3HT content of 10 wt%. Even a blend with 2 wt% P3HT exhibited a mobility of 1.76 × 10−3 cm2 (Vs)−1. However, in blend systems where CHCl3 solvent was employed in film preparation, the mobility decreased as the PLA content increased, and almost no electrical characteristics were exhibited at 50 wt% P3HT due to the isolated, spherical, phase-separated morphology of P3HT aggregation. Moreover, in CH2Cl2 solvent systems, the mobility of the P3HT/PLA (10/90) blend decreased from 5.3 × 10−3 cm2 (Vs)−1 (in a glove box) to 3.7 × 10−3 cm2 (Vs)−1 (after 28 days of air exposure), whereas that of 100 wt% P3HT declined by approximately one order of magnitude. These results confirm that P3HT/PLA blends prepared from CH2Cl2 solvent can be used to fabricate environmentally friendly, low-cost FETs with favorable air stability.
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Acknowledgements
C.-C.K. acknowledges the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan, and National Taipei University of Technology and Chang Gung Memorial Hospital Joint Research Program (NTUT-CGMH-107T140-2), NTUT-CGMH Joint Research Program, for financial support.
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Cho, CJ., Chen, SY., Kuo, CC. et al. Morphology and optoelectronic characteristics of organic field-effect transistors based on blends of polylactic acid and poly(3-hexylthiophene). Polym J 50, 975–987 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41428-018-0087-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41428-018-0087-x
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