CAREER: Understanding the Role of Structure on Ionic/Electronic Properties in Polymeric Mixed Conductors

非技术性描述：传导带电粒子（电子和离子）的塑料对于广泛的应用至关重要，包括用于健康监测和治疗的生物医学设备，实现能量存储的紧凑型电池，以及开发受大脑启发的新型计算机。特别令人感兴趣的是在生物学中的应用，其中这些软导电材料可用于检测来自身体器官的信号或刺激活细胞。例如，这种材料在控制截肢者的假肢方面显示出了希望，也可能有助于控制癫痫和帕金森病。该项目旨在研究几种软导电材料的设计如何影响电子和离子的流动，具体目的是了解每种材料在与周围环境相互作用时如何重新排列自己。这项研究的结果旨在为生物医学设备设计更有效和更敏感的材料。综合教育目标是为研究生制定一项计划，以提高他们的科学沟通技能，为广泛而多样化的受众，探索教师/导师发展的社区参与的性质，并通过这些努力，激发芝加哥地区学生对材料科学和生物电子学的兴趣。这些目标培养研究人员成为更好的导师，帮助提高公众的科学素养和参与技术。技术描述：工程聚合物材料，以支持混合导电提出了一些挑战，源于他们的敏感性，需要有效的电子和离子传输/注入的分子内和分子间的相互作用。导电聚合物系统已显示出作为混合导体用于一系列应用（包括生物电子学）的前景;它们的成功归因于由于大量离子渗透而产生的有效电化学性质。然而，缺少的是对离子传输的基本理解，它对电子过程施加的权衡，以及因此对在混合聚合物导体中实现高性能至关重要的设计规则。该项目通过跟踪当前高性能聚合物和新材料的微观结构和形态来满足这些需求，因为它们受到器械相关条件的影响。该研究采用操作X射线研究和紫外可见光谱电化学设备，以解决结构，加工和离子/电子传输之间的相互作用。该项目的研究部分旨在为体外和体内诊断和治疗提供有效的信号转导设备的开发信息，从而通过改善社会健康成果和加快材料开发周期来为社会做出贡献。该项目的教育部分集中在提高科学素养和参与科学和技术，为教学研究人员建立基础设施，将复杂的研究结果传达给从同龄人到非专家和K-12学生的广泛受众。该项目为不同持续时间的以社区为中心的参与活动开发课程材料，以确定对沟通者/导师发展的影响和功效。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

Nontechnical description: Plastics that conduct charged particles- electrons and ions- are critical for a broad range of applications including biomedical devices for health monitoring and treatment, realization of compact batteries for energy storage, and development of new computers inspired by the brain. Of particular interest are applications in biology, where these soft conducting materials can be used to detect signals from body organs or stimulate living cells. For example, such materials show promise in controlling prosthetic limbs for amputees, and may also help manage epilepsy and Parkinson's disease. This project seeks to study how the design of several soft conducting materials influences the flow of electrons and ions, by specifically aiming to understand how each material rearranges itself when interacting with its surroundings. The outcome of this research intends to enable the design of more efficient and sensitive materials for biomedical devices. The integrated educational objectives are to develop a program for graduate students to improve their science communications skills for a broad and diverse audience, to explore the nature of community engagement for teacher/mentor development, and, through these efforts, to stimulate the interest of Chicago-area students in materials science and bioelectronics. These objectives train researchers to be better mentors, helping promote public scientific literacy and engagement with technology.Technical description: Engineering polymeric materials to support mixed conduction presents a number of challenges stemming from their sensitivity to intra- and inter-molecular interactions needed for efficient electronic and ionic transport/injection. Conducting polymer systems have shown promise as mixed conductors for a range of applications, including bioelectronics; their success has been attributed to effective electrochemical properties owing to bulk ion penetration. Missing, however, is a fundamental understanding of ionic transport, the tradeoffs it imposes on electronic processes, and thus, the design rules critical to achieving high performance in mixed polymeric conductors. This project addresses these needs by tracking microstructure and morphology of both current high-performance polymers and new materials as they are influenced by device relevant conditions. The research employs operando X-ray studies and UV-visible spectroscopy on electrochemical devices to address the interplay amongst structure, processing, and ionic/electronic transport. The research component of this project aims to inform the development of effective signal transducing devices for in vitro and in vivo diagnostics and therapeutics, thus contributing benefits to society by improving societal health outcomes and speeding up the materials development cycle. The educational component of this project centers on improving scientific literacy and engagement in science and technology by building infrastructure for teaching researchers to communicate complex findings to a broad audience ranging from peers, to non-specialists and K-12 students. The project develops curricular materials for community-centered engagement activities of varying duration to determine the effect on, and efficacy of, communicator/mentor development.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.