Organic Transistor-Based Chemical Sensors for Real-Sample Analysis

An organic field-effect transistor (OFET) is the representative amplification device showing a switching profile by applying a gate voltage, which indicates the potential as a chemical sensor device in combination with appropriate molecular-recognition materials. In contrast, the realization of OFET-based chemical sensors for real-sample analysis is limited owing to the instability of organic semiconductive materials under ambient conditions and the difficulty of the designs of molecular-recognition materials. Methodologies and actual approaches to maximize the potential of the OFETs as chemical sensor platforms based on fusion technologies between organic electronics and molecular-recognition chemistry are described in this review. Extended-gate-type organic field-effect transistors functionalized with biological or artificial materials have achieved real-sample analysis, which indicates that a strategy based on the interdisciplinary field of organic electronics and molecular-recognition chemistry can accelerate the establishment of chemical sensor devices for practical sensing applications.image (c) 2023 WILEY-VCH GmbH