Recent advances in doped organic field-effect transistors: mechanism, influencing factors, materials, and development directions

Abstract

Generally, doping refers to mixing a dopant as the guest into a material as the host, so as to better realize and optimize the performance and function of the host with the assistance of the dopant. Doping was first proposed with the application of inorganic semiconductor materials and optoelectronic devices to modify their electrical conductivity. With the development of organic semiconductors, doping has gradually been adopted in the field of organic optoelectronic devices to improve their performance. As an effective optimization method, doping has been used in the fabrication of organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) in recent years. Recent studies have found that doping as a rejuvenation means, can improve the processability, electrical properties, and functionalities of organic semiconductors and their OFETs. In this review, we report the recent progress in the doping of organic semiconductors for OFETs, including the doping mechanism (Part II), dopant factors affecting the doping effect (Part III), doping sites (Part IV), and other development directions of doping (Part V). Nowadays, research on doping is still in development, and the doping mechanism is still unclear. The dopants, doping methods, and doping effects need to be studied more widely and deeply. We believe that doping will become one of the important aids for the practical application of the next generation of organic optoelectronic materials and optoelectronic products in the future.