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Energetic Control of Redox‐Active Polymers toward Safe Organic Bioelectronic Materials
Author(s) -
Giovannitti Alexander,
Rashid Reem B.,
Thiburce Quentin,
Paulsen Bryan D.,
Cendra Camila,
Thorley Karl,
Moia Davide,
Mefford J. Tyler,
Hanifi David,
Weiyuan Du,
Moser Maximilian,
Salleo Alberto,
Nelson Jenny,
McCulloch Iain,
Rivnay Jonathan
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
advanced materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 10.707
H-Index - 527
eISSN - 1521-4095
pISSN - 0935-9648
DOI - 10.1002/adma.201908047
Subject(s) - bioelectronics , materials science , redox , electrochemistry , nanotechnology , polymer , conductive polymer , electrolyte , conjugated system , organic electronics , combinatorial chemistry , transistor , chemistry , biosensor , electrode , physics , composite material , voltage , quantum mechanics , metallurgy
Avoiding faradaic side reactions during the operation of electrochemical devices is important to enhance the device stability, to achieve low power consumption, and to prevent the formation of reactive side‐products. This is particularly important for bioelectronic devices, which are designed to operate in biological systems. While redox‐active materials based on conducting and semiconducting polymers represent an exciting class of materials for bioelectronic devices, they are susceptible to electrochemical side‐reactions with molecular oxygen during device operation. Here, electrochemical side reactions with molecular oxygen are shown to occur during organic electrochemical transistor (OECT) operation using high‐performance, state‐of‐the‐art OECT materials. Depending on the choice of the active material, such reactions yield hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ), a reactive side‐product, which may be harmful to the local biological environment and may also accelerate device degradation. A design strategy is reported for the development of redox‐active organic semiconductors based on donor–acceptor copolymers that prevents the formation of H 2 O 2 during device operation. This study elucidates the previously overlooked side‐reactions between redox‐active conjugated polymers and molecular oxygen in electrochemical devices for bioelectronics, which is critical for the operation of electrolyte‐gated devices in application‐relevant environments.