Review of Recent Research on Polymer Organic Field-Effect Transistor Gas Sensors: From Mechanism, Materials, Process to Applications

Organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) are an ideal platform for organic gas sensors due to their response mechanisms, unique electrical signal amplification characteristics, and direct integration with standard integrated circuits in wearable electronics. Organic gas sensors based on OFETs have been widely applied in detecting explosives, toxic gases, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), showing potential in applications of environmental monitoring, industrial manufacturing, and smart health care. The remarkable advantages of organic gas sensors based on OFETs, particularly polymer semiconductor devices, lie in the multiple choices of materials, low power consumption, simple large-scale low-cost fabrication, room temperature operation, intrinsic flexibility, and direct electrical transduction of the analyte response. In this review, the latest advances in polymer OFET gas sensors, from responsive mechanisms, material design, and interfacial engineering to microstructure regulation, have been discussed to enhance the sensing performance, including sensitivity, selectivity, and stability. Additionally, the applications of OFET gas sensors in health and environmental monitoring are given. Lastly, the outlook on the prospects and challenges of OFET-based gas sensors in future intelligent wearable electronics is presented.