Photoresponse of an off-stoichiometry thiol–ene–epoxy (OSTE+) polymer

Abstract

The development of an off-stoichiometry thiol–ene–epoxy (OSTE⁺) based functional polymer has paramount importance for smart photonic sensor integrated lab-on-chip device applications. A modest attempt has been made to develop a semiconducting OSTE⁺ polymer material with ferroelectric behavior by tuning the stoichiometry ratio of the moieties for optoelectronic device applications in the visible region. The structural and optical properties of this material have been investigated in the thin film. The planar-type metal–semiconductor–metal (MSM) structure has been fabricated on interdigitated electrodes (IDEs) and the current–voltage characteristic of this MSM configuration shows the Schottky barrier formation at the metal–polymer interfaces. This MSM device generates photocurrent when it is exposed to visible light, which is attributed to the semi-crystalline nature of this polymer thin film. In addition, this polymer device exhibited ferroelectric polarization similar to the behavior shown by the conventional polar semi-crystalline polymers. Moreover, various characteristic parameters of this device have been extracted from the incident power-dependent photocurrent and established the fabricated MSM device as a new semiconducting polymer photodetector. This study thus established the thiol–ene–epoxy as a promising candidate for the development of semiconducting functional polymers along with the ferroelectric characteristics which have potential use in single polymer-based field-effect transistors and functional photonic materials.