POS5-0931
Aqueous Chiroptical Organic Electrochemical Transistors for Circularly Polarized Light Sensing
Topic
S5. Polymers for Electronics and Photonics
When and Where
Sep 29, 2026
08:30 - 09:30
Room 301 (Grand Ballroom)
Session Chairs
Hae Jung SON
Boseok KANG
Presenter(s)
CHAEEUN HYUN (Chung-Ang University)
Co-Author(s)
Abstract
Organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) have emerged as powerful tools for interfacing electronics with biological environments due to their high transconductance, low operating voltages, and excellent biocompatibility. In this work, we demonstrate the operation of chiroptical OECTs within an aqueous electrolyte environment, such as phosphate-buffered saline (PBS), specifically engineered for the detection of circularly polarized light (CPL). The precise sensing of CPL is of great importance as it provides a higher level of optical information compared to conventional unpolarized light, enabling sophisticated diagnostics in complex biological media. In this device, chirality is induced in the conjugated polymer through chiral transfer by adding a specific chiral dopant, which reconfigures the polymer chains into a helical structure. This "chiral templating" effect significantly induced the circular dichroism of the active layer, allowing the device to distinguish between left-handed (L-CPL) and right-handed (R-CPL) illumination. Under L- and R-CPL illumination, the device exhibits polarization-dependent photocurrents driven by asymmetric light–matter interactions and ion-driven doping processes within the aqueous PBS electrolyte. To facilitate this process, we incorporate a layer of n-PBDF, an n-type conjugated polymer, onto the gate electrode surface to substantially enhance the gate capacitance of the transistor. This enhanced capacitance allows for efficient ion injection into the semiconductor channel, thereby enabling a wide operating range.
These findings suggest that our water-gated chiroptical OECTs, with their inherent biocompatibility and polarization selectivity, provide a platform for wearable health monitors and real-time sensing in biological fluids.
These findings suggest that our water-gated chiroptical OECTs, with their inherent biocompatibility and polarization selectivity, provide a platform for wearable health monitors and real-time sensing in biological fluids.
