Pentafluorosulfanylated polymers as electrets in nonvolatile organic field-effect transistor memory devices

The synthesis and characterization of a pair of pentafluorosulfanylated styrenic polymers and their subsequent application in nonvolatile organic field-effect transistor (OFET) memory devices are reported. The unusual pentafluorosulfanyl (SF5) functional group is unique in that it possesses a strong dipole moment that arises from both inductive and resonance effects but is at the same time highly hydrophobic. This intriguing chemical moiety also presents steric bulk that is comparable to a tert-butyl group. Exploiting these intrinsic physicochemical properties, the use of pentafluorosulfanylated styrenic polymers as the electret layer of nonvolatile OFET-based memory devices is reported. Aside from being the first examples of SF5-functionalized styrenic polymers, the reported materials also display excellent thermal stability, moderately large memory windows and retention times, and stable reversibilities spanning multiple PGM/ERS cycles.