Targeted deposition of organic semiconductor stripes onto rigid, flexible, and three-dimensional substrates

Abstract

Efficient solution-based growth of electronic materials is needed to enable low-cost wearable electronics, medical sensors, soft robotics, and energy harvesting technologies. In this study, a wetting-mediated two-phase dip coating method is developed to deposit high-performance organic semiconductor stripes at pre-specified locations on rigid, flexible, and three-dimensional substrates. This approach produces highly-oriented 6,13-bis(triisopropylsilylethynyl)pentacene (TIPS-pentacene) crystallites, leading to hole mobilities up to 0.83 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹ along the crystallite axis. The deposition method requires minimal amounts of starting material (4 μL per centimeter of substrate length) and can easily be scaled for deposition onto large (meter-scale) substrates. Wetting-mediated two-phase dip coating also enables the targeted deposition of organic semiconductors onto folded and complex three-dimensional substrates creating new opportunities for unconventional electronic applications.