Exploring new frontiers of organic electronics: from flexible electronics to biosensing

有机电子学使用半导体薄膜或π共轭有机材料单晶，其范围是使技术能够彻底改变我们生成、操纵和显示信息的方式。自20世纪90年代以来，有机电子学经历了巨大的发展，有机发光二极管、有机薄膜晶体管和有机光伏成为人们大力研究和开发的主题。由于这些努力，有机电子设备在我们的社会中变得无处不在。 最近，人们对利用有机物除了电子和空穴之外还传导离子的能力的新兴技术给予了极大的关注。利用混合离子/电子传输的器件的例子有：电致变色器件、发光电化学电池和电解质门控晶体管。混合离子/电子传输为有机电子学开辟了令人兴奋的前景，迄今为止，有机电子学主要被认为是成熟的无机半导体技术的灵活且低成本的替代品。 本发现资助申请中描述的研究计划的目标是：i）了解基于有机电化学晶体管的传感器的工作机制并提高其性能，ii）利用碳纳米管电极在有机电解质门控场效应晶体管中进行电荷注入。我的研究选择的模型系统将是电解质门控有机晶体管，它是进行基础研究的理想平台和探索新技术的有效测试系统。由于其产生高影响力科学出版物的潜力、高技术含量和多学科特征，该研究计划为培养高素质人才、应对社会科技挑战提供了前所未有的机会。

The scope of organic electronics, which uses as semiconductors thin films or single crystals of pi-conjugated organic materials, is to enable technologies that will revolutionize the way we generate, manipulate and display information. Organic electronics experienced tremendous development since the 1990s, when organic light emitting diodes, organic thin-film transistors, and organic photovoltaics became the subjects of intense research and development. As a result of these efforts, organic electronic devices are becoming ubiquitous in our society. Recently, a great deal of attention is being paid to emerging technologies that exploit the ability of organics to conduct ions in addition to electron and holes. Examples of devices that exploit mixed ionic/electronic transport are: electrochromic devices, light-emitting electrochemical cells and electrolyte gated transistors. Mixed ionic/electronic transport opens exciting scenarios for organic electronics, which has been so far considered mostly as a flexible and low-cost alternative to well-established inorganic semiconductor technologies. The objectives of the Research Program described in this Discovery Grant application are: i) Understanding the working mechanism and improving the performance of sensors based on organic electrochemical transistors and ii) Exploiting carbon nanotube electrodes for charge injection in organic electrolyte gated field-effect transistors. The model system of choice for my research will be the electrolyte gated organic transistor, which is an ideal platform to carry out fundamental studies and a valid test system to explore new technologies. Because of its potential to produce high-impact scientific publications, its high technological content and multidisciplinary character, this Research Program represents an unprecedented opportunity to train highly qualified personnel, to respond to the scientific and technological challenges of our society.