Sustainable and Scalable Polymer Field-Effect Transistors via Aqueous Emulsification and Pressure-Assisted Thermal Annealing

Organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) hold considerable promise for the development of mechanically flexible and cost-effective electronic devices. However, the widespread deployment of organic electronics is fundamentally constrained by the extensive reliance on toxic organic solvents during solution processing. Beyond their immediate environmental and health hazards, the large-scale use of such solvents presents substantial obstacles to sustainable and industrially scalable manufacturing. Herein, we present an environmentally benign and scalable strategy that integrates aqueous emulsification with pressure-assisted thermal (PAT) annealing to fabricate high-performance OFETs. A nonionic surfactant was employed to stabilize the aqueous dispersion and subsequently removed during PAT annealing process, eliminating the need for additional purification steps. The synergistic application of heat and pressure during PAT annealing facilitates polymer chain rearrangement and interparticle fusion, effectively transforming discontinuous particulate films into electrically continuous semiconducting layers. This approach yields OFETs with markedly enhanced morphological uniformity, crystallinity, and charge transport, achieving a field-effect mobility of up to 0.34 cm 2 ·V –1 ·s –1 ─comparable to devices processed via conventional organic solvents. These findings underscore the viability of surfactant-assisted aqueous processing as a general and sustainable pathway for advancing solution-processed polymer electronics.