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

有机电子学的范围是使技术能够彻底改变我们产生、操作和显示信息的方式。有机电子学使用的是薄膜或圆周率共轭有机材料的单晶作为半导体。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紧张研究和开发的对象。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，除了电子和空穴外，利用有机物的离子传导能力的新兴技术受到了极大的关注。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液门控晶体管。离子/电子混合运输为有机电子开辟了令人兴奋的前景，到目前为止，有机电子主要被认为是成熟的无机半导体技术的灵活和低成本的替代方案。 本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改进其性能；ii)开发用于有机电解液门控场效应晶体管的电荷注入的碳纳米管电极。我的研究选择的模型系统将是电解液门控有机晶体管，它是开展基础研究的理想平台，也是探索新技术的有效测试系统。由于该研究计划具有出版高影响力科学出版物的潜力、高技术含量和多学科特点，因此是培养高素质人才、应对我国社会科技挑战的前所未有的机会。

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.