Side-chain engineering of polythiophene for enhanced NO2 affinity in organic gas sensors

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Abstract
Organic electronic materials have attracted significant attention in the development of next-generation electronic devices due to their intrinsic advantages, such as flexibility, transparency, and compatibility with large-area solution processing. Unlike their inorganic counterparts, organic electronic materials enable the fine-tuning of electrical, physical, and solubility properties through molecular design without the need for complex fabrication processes. However, challenges concerning relatively poor performance compared to conventional inorganic electronics materials remain major hurdles to widespread commercialization.,In this study, we investigated the impact of side-chain engineering on the performance of organic gas sensors. We employed a series of thiophene-based polymers functionalized with various side chains, including hydrocarbon, carboxylic acid, oligoethylene glycol, and potassium carboxylate groups. Since the side chains of conjugated polymers play a critical role in determining solubility, gas sensors were fabricated via solution processing with optimized solvents. Notably, the polythiophene incorporating ionic side chains enabled eco-friendly aqueous processing and exhibited a 50-fold increase in sensing performance compared to the reference devices, which is attributed to the strong interaction between the ionized side chains and NO2 molecules. Our findings demonstrate that strategic side-chain engineering is an effective strategy to simultaneously enhance sensitivity, selectivity, and processability, providing a viable pathway for the development of sustainable, high-performance, and flexible organic gas sensors.

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