A facile membraneless method for detecting alkali-metal cations using organic electrochemical transistors

Artikel i vetenskaplig tidskrift, 2024

Organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) have garnered significant attention due to their exceptional capability to efficiently monitor biological signals, making them an ideal platform for bio-signal detection. Many recent research studies have focused on detecting alkali-metal cations, such as the key cellular messengers of sodium (Na+) and potassium (K+) ions. We now report a straightforward and effective method for fabricating membraneless ion-selective OECTs (IS-OECTs) by directly incorporating crown ethers, specifically 18-crown-6 (18C6) and 15-crown-5 (15C5) ethers, into a polymer matrix of p(g2T-TT), a conjugated polymer bearing glycol side chains. The resulting IS-OECTs demonstrated good sensitivity and a low limit of detection for both Na+ and K+ ions. Importantly, stability tests revealed that 15C5-mixed polymer OECTs show no degradation over 450 continuous cycles in a NaCl aqueous solution, underscoring the excellent retention performance. This study not only provides a facile and efficient approach for the development of ion detection systems based on OECTs but also opens new avenues for advancing bioelectronic devices in future research endeavors. A facile membraneless method for detecting alkali-metal cations was developed by adding ionophores (crown ethers: 18C6 or 15C5) to a polymer matrix (p(g2T-TT)) as the active layer in organic electrochemical transistors.