Structure-functional property-device performance relationships in electronic and energy materials and devices

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This proposal seeks funding to support a research program that, inspired by the United Nations Sustainability Development Goals 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy for All), 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) and 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), aims at alleviating the environmental impact of electronics and their powering elements. In 2019, electrical and electronic equipment waste (WEEE or e-waste) represented 53.6 Mt at the global level, an average of 7.3 kg per capita. The amount of e-waste grew by 9.2 Mt since 2014 and the United Nations (UN) University projects it to grow to 74.7 Mt by 2030. Planned obsolescence and the lack of environmentally benign end-of-life scenarios cause such dramatic increase. The vision behind the proposed research program is to build extended structure-functional property-device performance relationships in electronic and electrochemical materials & devices to simultaneously optimize their technical and environmental performance. The program addresses key challenges in: (i) molecular assembly and disassembly in films of natural (biosourced) organic electronic materials (based on molecules and polymers that feature an alternation of single and double carbon-carbon bonds), to control device stability and reliability during operation as well as efficient biodegradation at the device end-of-life; (ii) charge transfer and protonic & electronic transport, probed at different length scales, for natural materials featuring structural hierarchy (superstructure), to shed light on the interplay between structural hierarchy and transport; and (iii) mixed electronic-ionic (iontronic) transport in intercalation metal oxide electrode materials for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), to gain insight on the electronic behavior of LIB electrodes at different states of charge, for their optimal use in LIBs. Cutting edge equipment available in my laboratory, e.g. a multiprobe spectroscopy-morphology-electrochemical system to spatially resolve chemical, topographical and charge transfer & transport properties of the materials under investigation, together with infrastructure available on Polytechnique Montreal/University of Montreal Campus, will contribute to the success of the research. During this proposed program, I plan to train five PhD students, selected from a talented and diverse recruiting pool, including members of equity-seeking groups. Our program will create new interdisciplinary knowledge, both fundamental and applied, at the interface between physics, physical chemistry, molecular sciences and device engineering and will integrate both in its technological and knowledge advances equitable access to the societal and economic benefits to all Canadians. The proposed program will train HQPs who can make educated, responsible and ethical decisions on present and future industrial needs, with skills relevant for the greentech, biomedical, energy and advanced manufacturing sectors.