Issue 25, 2018

Reduced Pyronin B as a solution-processable and heating-free n-type dopant for soft electronics

Abstract

Air-stable and heating-free doping processes are highly desirable for realizing advanced flexible electronics on plastic substrates. A synthetic protocol for a high-performance n-type organic dopant using an organic cationic dye, Pyronin B, via a simple chemical reduction method with NaBH4 in various organic non-polar solvents is developed, in which the cationic dye Pyronin B is transformed into its leuco form. The reduced Pyronin B (rPyB, leuco form) spontaneously interacts with carbon nanomaterials, such as graphene and [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM), via hydride-mediated electron transfer doping, which is confirmed by electron spin resonance (ESR) analysis. After coating rPyB onto graphene, the non-polar solvents are removed by simple evacuation (∼1 × 10−3 Torr) without an annealing step. The work function of graphene is reduced from 4.52 eV to 3.98 eV after doping. Multiple coatings of rPyB on graphene field-effect transistors (FETs) result in air stability for 90 days under ambient conditions. Selective n-type doping using a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) stamp and rPyB has also been performed on a large-area 16 × 16 graphene FET array. Our findings demonstrate a viable methodology for the cost-effective synthesis of an n-type dopant and its application in soft electronics.

Graphical abstract: Reduced Pyronin B as a solution-processable and heating-free n-type dopant for soft electronics

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
01 May 2018
Accepted
24 May 2018
First published
24 May 2018

J. Mater. Chem. C, 2018,6, 6672-6679

Reduced Pyronin B as a solution-processable and heating-free n-type dopant for soft electronics

E. K. Lee, Y. Kim, J. Back, E. Lee and J. H. Oh, J. Mater. Chem. C, 2018, 6, 6672 DOI: 10.1039/C8TC02094A

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