Doping‐Free Polymer Nanoparticle Engineering of n‐Type Organic Mixed Ion–Electron Conductors for Enhancement‐Mode Organic Electrochemical Transistors
Abstract
Organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) offer unique advantages for bioelectronic and neuromorphic applications. The development of n-type enhancement-mode devices is essential for creating complementary circuits and low-power, bidirectional bioelectronic platforms. However, progress in this area has been hindered by the challenges associated with processing suitable n-type polymers. Here, we present a nanoparticle-based processing strategy for the ladder polymer poly(benzimidazobenzophenanthroline) (BBL). This n-type mixed conductor is soluble only in strong acids, which hinders straightforward fabrication. BBL nanoparticles are obtained by reprecipitation with an anionic surfactant, and systematic analysis reveals a particle-number-controlled scaling law, in which surfactant concentration and the polymer-to-surfactant ratio govern stabilization. Films prepared from these dispersions further underscore the importance of nanoparticle assembly: spray-coating yields dense, interconnected networks with markedly higher electrochemical activity than the porous films obtained by the filtration-transfer method. The spray-coated BBL films operate in enhancement mode, exhibiting efficient switching in the subthreshold regime while remaining non-conductive at zero gate bias. This work establishes a scalable route to n-type enhancement-mode OECTs, thereby broadening the foundation for next-generation bioelectronic and neuromorphic systems.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Conducting polymers and applications
Organic Electronics and Photovoltaics
Nanomaterials and Printing Technologies
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Macromolecular Rapid Communications
- Volume
- 47
- Issue
- 10
- Pages
- e00876–e00876
- Publication date
- 18 January 2026
- Language
- EN