title: Electrospray-processed soluble acenes toward the realization of high-performance field-effect transistors.
abstract: Functionalized acenes have proven to be promising compounds in the field of molecular electronics because of their unique features in terms of the stability, performance, and ease of processing. The emerging concept of large-area-compatible techniques for flexible electronics has brought about a wide variety of well-established techniques for the deposition of soluble acenes, with spray-coating representing an especially fruitful approach. In the present study, electrostatic spray deposition is proposed as an alternative to the conventional spray-coating processes, toward the realization of high-performance organic field-effect transistors (OFETs), on both rigid and flexible substrates. Particularly, a thorough study on the effect of the solvent and spraying regime on the resulting crystalline film's morphology is performed. By optimization of the process conditions in terms of control over the size as well as the crystallization scheme of the droplets, desirable morphological features along with high-quality crystal domains are obtained. The fabricated OFETs exhibit excellent electrical characteristics, with high field-effect mobility up to 0.78 cm(2)/(V s), I(on)/I(off) >10(4), and near-zero threshold voltages. Additionally, the good performance of the OFETs realized on plastic substrates gives great potentiality to the proposed method for applications in the challenging field of large-area electronics.
authors.affiliation: †Laboratory for Thin Films, Nanosystems and Nanometrology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki 54124, Greece.
authors.forename: Charalampos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pitsalidis
authors.affiliation: †Laboratory for Thin Films, Nanosystems and Nanometrology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki 54124, Greece.
authors.forename: Anna-Maria
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Pappa
authors.affiliation: ‡Blackett Laboratory, Department of Physics and Centre for Plastic Electronics, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hunter
authors.affiliation: §Department of Chemistry, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky 40506-0055, United States.
authors.forename: Marcia M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Payne
authors.affiliation: §Department of Chemistry, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky 40506-0055, United States.
authors.forename: John E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Anthony
authors.affiliation: ‡Blackett Laboratory, Department of Physics and Centre for Plastic Electronics, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Thomas D
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Anthopoulos
authors.affiliation: †Laboratory for Thin Films, Nanosystems and Nanometrology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki 54124, Greece.
authors.forename: Stergios
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Logothetidis
keywords: electrostatic spray deposition; flexible transistors; organic field-effect transistors; soluble acenes; solution processing