Proton conducting sodium alginate electrolyte laterally coupled low-voltage oxide-based transistors

Solution-processed sodium alginate electrolyte film shows a high proton conductivity of similar to 5.5 x 10(-3) S/cm and a high lateral electric-double-layer (EDL) capacitance of similar to 2.0 mu F/cm(2) at room temperature with a relative humidity of 57%. Low-voltage in-plane-gate indium-zinc-oxide-based EDL transistors laterally gated by sodium alginate electrolytes are fabricated on glass substrates. The field-effect mobility, current ON/OFF ratio, and subthreshold swing of such EDL transistors are estimated to be 4.2cm(2) V(-1)s(-1), 2.8 x 10(6), and 130mV/decade, respectively. At last, a low-voltage driven resistor-load inverter is also demonstrated. Such in-plane-gate EDL transistors have potential applications in portable electronics and low-cost biosensors. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.