Side-Chain Free Semiconducting Polymer for High-Performance n‑Type Organic Electrochemical Transistors

Journal article

The development of organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) critically depends on the design and characterization of mixed-conducting, high-performance conjugated polymers (CPs) as channel materials, particularly for n-type OECTs. In this study, we present a novel strategy to enhance the OECT performance of a semiconducting polymer film via a postdeposition ester pyrolysis of thermally cleavable side chains, thus facilitating ion incorporation and transport within the bulk. Our approach relies on the synthesis of a high glass-transition, rigid-rod polymer, able to withstand the pyrolysis temperature without deformation and maintain the voids formed from the pyrolysis reaction which removes the thermally cleavable ester side chains. After side-chain cleavage, the resulting film exhibits increased porosity, hydrophilicity, and crystallinity. By creating bulk porosity in thin films via this approach, ion diffusion is enhanced, resulting in a superior μC* figure of merit up to 158.85 F cm–1 V–1 s–1, and a corresponding increase in normalized transconductance (31.67 S cm–1). In addition, the device switching speed and long-term stability are also observed to increase, further demonstrating the benefit of nanoscale porosity for mixed conductivity semiconductors.

Authors: Yao, Y; Shah, MB; Lu, W; Li, X; Vasant, R

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: American Chemical Society
• Journal: Journal of the American Chemical Society
• Volume: 148
• Issue: 9
• Pages: 9494-9503
• Publication date: 2026-02-26
• Acceptance date: 2026-02-19
• DOI: 10.1021/jacs.5c19399
• EISSN: 1520-5126
• ISSN: 0002-7863
• Language: English
• Keywords: Pyrolysis; Polymer; Porosity; Electrochemistry; Nanoscopic scale; Conjugated system; Thermal stability; Figure of merit; Conductivity