Next-Generation Design Strategies for Organic Mixed Conductor Technologies

Organic mixed ionic-electronic conductors (OMIECs) and organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) have enormous potential to impact everyday life and society – from low-cost biotechnologies in a widespread healthcare internet of things, to versatile neuromorphic computing technologies operating at the bio-hybrid interface. While significant research progress has been made, poor stability remains a critical bottleneck for OECTs. Additionally, identifying, enhancing, and measuring figures of merit that inform the ‘material-device-circuit-application’ research stack is essential for the success of emergent OMIEC electronics. Here, materials and device design strategies that increase important figures of merit will be discussed, as well as how the figure of merit, the µC* product, can be overstated when extracted from OECTs.