Structure-property and ionic-electronic trade-offs in organic electrochemical transistor channel materials

Ultimate organic electrochemical transistor (OECT) performance depends on the mixed transport properties of the organic mixed ionic-electronic conductors (OMIECs). It is often accepted that routes to improve ionic transport are at odds with routes to improve electronic transport, and vice versa, resulting in inherent trade-offs. Thorough material and device characterization studies find this to not be in fact true, and identify routes for the mutual optimization of ionic and electronic transport. OECTs fabricated with OMIEC channels with ionic- and electronic-transport enhancing microstructure display device performance metrics not achievable in traditional field effect devices (e.g. subthreshold swing below 60 mV/decade at room temperature), revealing new opportunities unique to OECTs.