%A Picca,Rosaria Anna %A Manoli,Kyriaki %A Macchia,Eleonora %A Tricase,Angelo %A Di Franco,Cinzia %A Scamarcio,Gaetano %A Cioffi,Nicola %A Torsi,Luisa %D 2019 %J Frontiers in Chemistry %C %F %G English %K Poly-3-hexylthiophene,Electrolyte-gated OFET,degradation,Pulsed mode,Biosensors %Q %R 10.3389/fchem.2019.00667 %W %L %M %P %7 %8 2019-October-10 %9 Original Research %# %! Stability of P3HT-based EGOFETs %* %< %T A Study on the Stability of Water-Gated Organic Field-Effect-Transistors Based on a Commercial p-Type Polymer %U https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fchem.2019.00667 %V 7 %0 JOURNAL ARTICLE %@ 2296-2646 %X Robust electrolyte-gated organic field-effect-transistors (OFETs) are particularly needed for the development of biosensing devices. However, when a FET biosensor operates in aqueous environments or even in real biological fluids, some critical issues may arise due to the possible lack of environmental long-term and/or operational stability. An important source of instability is associated with the degradation of the organic electronic channel materials such as for instance, poly-3-hexylthiophene (P3HT), a benchmark commercially available p-type organic semiconductor. In this work, the investigation of critical parameters, such as the control over spurious electrochemical phenomena as well as the operating conditions that can affect water-gated OFETs lifetime, is reported, together with a proposed modeling of the P3HT stability curve over 1 week in water. The investigation of possible morphological/chemical modifications occurring at the polymer surface after operating in water for 2 weeks was carried out. Moreover, it is proven how the addition of a gel layer can extend the P3HT based water-gated OFET shelf life up to 2 months.