Intrinsically ionic conductive cellulose nanopapers applied as all solid dielectrics for low voltage organic transistors

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 9; no. 1; pp. 2737 - 10
• Main Authors: Dai, Shilei, Chu, Yingli, Liu, Dapeng, Cao, Fei, Wu, Xiaohan, Zhou, Jiachen, Zhou, Bilei, Chen, Yantao, Huang, Jia
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 16-07-2018; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 147/3; 639/301/1005/1007; 639/925/357/995; Bending machines; Biodegradability; Biodegradation; Capacitance; Cellulose; Conductivity; Dielectrics; Electronics; Field effect transistors; Flexibility; Humanities and Social Sciences; Ion currents; Ions; Low voltage; multidisciplinary; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Semiconductor devices; Transistors; Transparency; Voltage
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-05155-y

Biodegradability, low-voltage operation, and flexibility are important trends for the future organic electronics. High-capacitance dielectrics are essential for low-voltage organic field-effect transistors. Here we report the application of environmental-friendly cellulose nanopapers as high-capacitance dielectrics with intrinsic ionic conductivity. Different with the previously reported liquid/electrolyte-gated dielectrics, cellulose nanopapers can be applied as all-solid dielectrics without any liquid or gel. Organic field-effect transistors fabricated with cellulose nanopaper dielectrics exhibit good transistor performances under operation voltage below 2 V, and no discernible drain current change is observed when the device is under bending with radius down to 1 mm. Interesting properties of the cellulose nanopapers, such as ionic conductivity, ultra-smooth surface (~0.59 nm), high transparency (above 80%) and flexibility make them excellent candidates as high-capacitance dielectrics for flexible, transparent and low-voltage electronics.
Next-generation organic electronics require flexible organic field effect transistors that show low-voltage operation and are biodegradable. Here, Huang and co-workers demonstrate high-performance transistors that utilize solid-state ionic conductive cellulose nanopaper as the dielectric.