Exploring the Role of the Electrolyte and Nanoscale Morphology on the Performance of Organic Mixed Ionic-Electronic Conductors

Organic mixed ionic-electronic conductors (OMIECs) have emerged as powerful materials for bioelectronics applications because of their ability to conduct both ionic and electronic species. The performance of these materials strongly depends on couplings between ionic motion, electron transport, and structural dynamics. Understanding the design rules that dictate these coupled dynamics is challenging because of (1) the need to characterize these materials in a liquid environment, (2) the inherently nanoscale morphology of these materials, and (3) the large parameter space that impacts OMIEC performance (e.g. electrolyte identity, processing conditions). In this talk, I will show how our group has developed a high-throughput robotic system to interrogate OMIEC performance as a function of electrolyte identity and OMIEC processing conditions. I will also demonstrate how we use nanoscale infrared imaging with photoinduced force microscopy (PiFM) to map the location of ionic and electronic species in the OMIEC polymer matrix. By combining high-throughput studies and nanoscale imaging, we aim to understand dynamic processes in OMIECs over a wide range of length scales and timescales.