Recent Progress in Intrinsically Stretchable Sensors Based on Organic Field-Effect Transistors

Overview

Journal Sensors (Basel)

Publisher MDPI

Specialty Biotechnology

Date 2025 Feb 13

PMID 39943564

Authors

Mingxin Zhang

Mengfan Zhou

Jing Sun

Yanhong Tong

Xiaoli Zhao

Qingxin Tang

Yichun Liu

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) are an ideal platform for intrinsically stretchable sensors due to their diverse mechanisms and unique electrical signal amplification characteristics. The remarkable advantages of intrinsically stretchable sensors lie in their molecular tunability, lightweight design, mechanical robustness, solution processability, and low Young's modulus, which enable them to seamlessly conform to three-dimensional curved surfaces while maintaining electrical performance under significant deformations. Intrinsically stretchable sensors have been widely applied in smart wearables, electronic skin, biological detection, and environmental protection. In this review, we summarize the recent progress in intrinsically stretchable sensors based on OFETs, including advancements in functional layer materials, sensing mechanisms, and applications such as gas sensors, strain sensors, stress sensors, proximity sensors, and temperature sensors. The conclusions and future outlook discuss the challenges and future outlook for stretchable OFET-based sensors.

References

OConnor B, Chan E, Chan C, Conrad B, Richter L, Kline R . Correlations between mechanical and electrical properties of polythiophenes. ACS Nano. 2010; 4(12):7538-44. DOI: 10.1021/nn1018768. View

Yang J, Mun J, Kwon S, Park S, Bao Z, Park S . Electronic Skin: Recent Progress and Future Prospects for Skin-Attachable Devices for Health Monitoring, Robotics, and Prosthetics. Adv Mater. 2019; 31(48):e1904765. DOI: 10.1002/adma.201904765. View

Canon Bermudez G, Karnaushenko D, Karnaushenko D, Lebanov A, Bischoff L, Kaltenbrunner M . Magnetosensitive e-skins with directional perception for augmented reality. Sci Adv. 2018; 4(1):eaao2623. PMC: 5777399. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aao2623. View

Lu C, Lee W, Shih C, Wen M, Chen W . Stretchable Polymer Dielectrics for Low-Voltage-Driven Field-Effect Transistors. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2017; 9(30):25522-25532. DOI: 10.1021/acsami.7b06765. View

Luo Y, Reza Abidian M, Ahn J, Akinwande D, Andrews A, Antonietti M . Technology Roadmap for Flexible Sensors. ACS Nano. 2023; 17(6):5211-5295. PMC: 11223676. DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.2c12606. View

Zheng Y, Liu Y, Zhong D, Nikzad S, Liu S, Yu Z . Monolithic optical microlithography of high-density elastic circuits. Science. 2021; 373(6550):88-94. DOI: 10.1126/science.abh3551. View

Du Y, Yu G, Dai X, Wang X, Yao B, Kong J . Highly Stretchable, Self-Healable, Ultrasensitive Strain and Proximity Sensors Based on Skin-Inspired Conductive Film for Human Motion Monitoring. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2020; 12(46):51987-51998. DOI: 10.1021/acsami.0c15578. View

Cheng S, Wang Y, Zhang R, Wang H, Sun C, Wang T . Recent Progress in Gas Sensors Based on P3HT Polymer Field-Effect Transistors. Sensors (Basel). 2023; 23(19). PMC: 10575277. DOI: 10.3390/s23198309. View

Jiang Y, Zhang Z, Wang Y, Li D, Coen C, Hwaun E . Topological supramolecular network enabled high-conductivity, stretchable organic bioelectronics. Science. 2022; 375(6587):1411-1417. DOI: 10.1126/science.abj7564. View

10.

Xu J, Wang S, Wang G, Zhu C, Luo S, Jin L . Highly stretchable polymer semiconductor films through the nanoconfinement effect. Science. 2017; 355(6320):59-64. DOI: 10.1126/science.aah4496. View

11.

Tang Q, Tong Y, Zheng Y, He Y, Zhang Y, Dong H . Organic nanowire crystals combine excellent device performance and mechanical flexibility. Small. 2011; 7(2):189-93. DOI: 10.1002/smll.201001217. View

12.

Kim M, Jeong M, Kim J, Nam T, Vo N, Jin L . Mechanically robust stretchable semiconductor metallization for skin-inspired organic transistors. Sci Adv. 2022; 8(51):eade2988. PMC: 9770969. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.ade2988. View

13.

Li Y, Li N, Liu W, Prominski A, Kang S, Dai Y . Achieving tissue-level softness on stretchable electronics through a generalizable soft interlayer design. Nat Commun. 2023; 14(1):4488. PMC: 10372055. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-40191-3. View

14.

Qian Y, Zhang X, Xie L, Qi D, Chandran B, Chen X . Stretchable Organic Semiconductor Devices. Adv Mater. 2016; 28(42):9243-9265. DOI: 10.1002/adma.201601278. View

15.

Wang S, Xu J, Wang W, Wang G, Rastak R, Molina-Lopez F . Skin electronics from scalable fabrication of an intrinsically stretchable transistor array. Nature. 2018; 555(7694):83-88. DOI: 10.1038/nature25494. View

16.

Xu J, Wu H, Zhu C, Ehrlich A, Shaw L, Nikolka M . Multi-scale ordering in highly stretchable polymer semiconducting films. Nat Mater. 2019; 18(6):594-601. DOI: 10.1038/s41563-019-0340-5. View

17.

Scott J, Xue X, Wang M, Kline R, Hoffman B, Dougherty D . Significantly Increasing the Ductility of High Performance Polymer Semiconductors through Polymer Blending. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2016; 8(22):14037-45. PMC: 5494703. DOI: 10.1021/acsami.6b01852. View

18.

Oh J, Son D, Katsumata T, Lee Y, Kim Y, Lopez J . Stretchable self-healable semiconducting polymer film for active-matrix strain-sensing array. Sci Adv. 2019; 5(11):eaav3097. PMC: 6839939. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aav3097. View

19.

Schwartz G, Tee B, Mei J, Appleton A, Kim D, Wang H . Flexible polymer transistors with high pressure sensitivity for application in electronic skin and health monitoring. Nat Commun. 2013; 4:1859. DOI: 10.1038/ncomms2832. View

20.

Oh J, Rondeau-Gagne S, Chiu Y, Chortos A, Lissel F, Wang G . Intrinsically stretchable and healable semiconducting polymer for organic transistors. Nature. 2016; 539(7629):411-415. DOI: 10.1038/nature20102. View