A Review on Materials and Technologies for Organic Large‐Area Electronics

Abstract

New and innovative applications in the field of electronics are rapidly emerging. Such applications often require flexible or stretchable substrates, lightweight and transparent materials, and design freedom. This paper offers a complete overview concerning flexible electronics manufacturing, focusing on the materials and technologies that have been recently developed. This combination of materials and technologies aims to fuel a fast, economical, and environmentally sustainable transition from the conventional to the novel and highly customizable electronics. Organic conductors, semiconductors, and dielectrics have recently gathered lots of attention since they are compatible with printing technologies, and can be easily spread over large and flexible substrates. These printing technologies are usually simple and fast procedures, which rely on low‐cost and recycle‐friendly materials, intended for large‐scale fabrication. Overall, even though organic large‐area electronics manufacturing is still in its early stages of development, it is a field with tremendous potential that holds promise to revolutionize the way products are designed, developed, and processed from the factory premises to the consumers’ hands. Besides, this technology is highly versatile and can be applied to a large array of sectors such as automotive, medical, home design, industrial, agricultural, among others.

All inkjet-printed electronics based on electrochemically exfoliated two-dimensional metal, semiconductor, and dielectric

“…Solution-phase printing is driving advances in the low-cost, scalable fabrication of electronic devices, which has been difficult with conventional microfabrication techniques involving photolithography, vacuum deposition, and lift-off processes [1][2][3] . Among various printing strategies, inkjet printing has received great attention because this method can assemble functional materials into customizable patterns on various substrates in a lithographyfree manner 4 .…”

In Situ Observation of Morphological and Oxidation Level Degradation Processes within Ionic Liquid Post-treated PEDOT:PSS Thin Films upon Operation at High Temperatures

“…The reason for this lies in the advantageous properties of organic semiconductors, like their easy and low-temperature processability from solution, facilitating a low-cost and energyefficient fabrication with large-scale deposition techniques like printing, spray, or dip coating. 21,22 Furthermore, the raw materials are usually abundantly available and enable low or nontoxic, lightweight, and mechanical flexible devices. Besides organic small molecules, like oligothiophene, fullerene, perylene, or anthracene derivatives, an intense research interest lies in polymer-based organic semiconductors, usually based on polyacetylene, polypyrrole, polyphenylene vinylene, or polythiophene backbones.…”

“…Whether in lightweight organic photovoltaics, − flexible organic light-emitting diodes, − organic sensors, − organic field-effect transistors, − transparent organic electrodes, − or organic thin-film thermoelectrics, − nowadays, organic semiconductors play a fundamental part in the development of new trendsetting devices and applications. The reason for this lies in the advantageous properties of organic semiconductors, like their easy and low-temperature processability from solution, facilitating a low-cost and energy-efficient fabrication with large-scale deposition techniques like printing, spray, or dip coating. , Furthermore, the raw materials are usually abundantly available and enable low or nontoxic, lightweight, and mechanical flexible devices. Besides organic small molecules, like oligothiophene, fullerene, perylene, or anthracene derivatives, an intense research interest lies in polymer-based organic semiconductors, usually based on polyacetylene, polypyrrole, polyphenylene vinylene, or polythiophene backbones. − In particular, great attention is paid to the blend poly­(3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene):polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS), which comprises the insoluble, however, excellent p-type semiconductor PEDOT and PSS, a water-soluble partly negatively charged polyanion. , Besides the before mentioned advantages of organic semiconductors, PEDOT:PSS also exhibits a tunable and potentially high hole conductivity of up to 10 3 S cm –1 , which even competes with commonly used transparent electrode materials like indium tin oxide (ITO). − The key to the easy tunability of optoelectronic properties lies in the particular polymer blend morphology of PEDOT:PSS. ,, In an aqueous solution, the insoluble π-conjugated PEDOT chains agglomerate, forming a PEDOT enriched core, which is surrounded and stabilized by a shell of water-soluble PSS.…”

A Review of the Progress of Thin-Film Transistors and Their Technologies for Flexible Electronics

“…Vacuum evaporation techniques and solution-based processing are two major deposition methods for organic materials, with the former typically providing higher carrier mobility compared with the latter [122][123][124]. However, solution-based deposition methods are beneficial for large-area electronics realization, while the process temperature is low (typically room temperature) and keeps the costs low as well [125].…”