SUMMARY
The primary emphasis in this paper is on the major developments in the field of air-stable organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) over the past 20 years. The studies about the factors influencing the stability of OFETs, including air, humidity, oxygen and temperature, are reviewed and analyzed. The possible mechanisms that result in the degradation of OFETs, such as the penetrating of H2O molecules, the doping effect of oxygen or the crystalline structure difference caused by temperature, are summarized. At same time, the reason why the field-effect mobility and the on/off current ratio of the transistor might change greatly with different ambient is concluded. The overall lives of OFET-based sensor in the detection of hazardous gases including nitrogen dioxide and ammonia are discussed, several breakthrough findings and technologies about how to solve the problem of instability of OFETs are also presented. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ms.24.2.18197