Collaborative Research: RUI: Effects of Interfacial Properties on Charge Transport in Conducting Organic/Inorganic Composites

非技术描述有机半导体被用于许多应用，如发光二极管、太阳能电池和柔性电子产品。他们还展示了将热能转化为电能和储能等新技术的前景。为了实现它们的潜力，有必要更好地了解电荷输运。这个跨学科的项目将研究电荷如何在导电聚合物和纳米颗粒的复合材料中运动。重点是控制界面上的电荷传输，以创造对清洁能源技术有用的材料。这个合作项目将在两个主要的本科生机构进行。在实现项目技术目标的同时，研究人员还将对下一代科学家进行能源转换和储存概念和技术方面的教育。该项目使用可扩展的丰富的地球材料和低成本的基于解决方案的制造方法。这将促进利用这些复合材料的技术的广泛应用。本研究通过探索界面项在电荷传输模型中的作用并对这些模型进行实验测试，增强了对纳米结构导电有机/无机复合材料组分间界面的物理化学性质及其对电荷传输的影响的理解。具体地说，这个界面项说明了复合输运现象的出现，它超越了单个成分的总和。以往的电子输运模型一般忽略界面效应，采用有效介质近似，将互穿材料看作是单个平行相和串联相的组合。通过考虑界面面积、厚度和界面能垒的影响，该项目指导了多种应用的此类材料的设计，特别关注这些材料的热电能量转换和电容储能。在里德学院和波特兰大学，本科生将参与所有方面的研究，从初始实验室设置和理论建模到数据分析、展示结果和撰写论文。通过设计，这个项目使用了直接的基于解决方案的制造和实验技术，这使得它特别适合那些可能是研究新手和/或新形成他们作为科学家的身份的学生。这个项目直接让本科生参与研究，并将通过改善研究基础设施、更新实验室课程和本科生论文项目的新机会间接影响许多其他人。此外，它还将基础科学理解(包括实验和理论)与对我们社会未来至关重要的技术工程联系在一起。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Non-technical DescriptionOrganic semiconductors are used in many applications, such as light-emitting diodes, solar cells, and flexible electronics. They also have shown promise for new technologies such as converting heat into electricity and energy storage. In order to realize their potential, it is necessary to better understand charge transport. This interdisciplinary project will study how electrical charge moves through composites of conducting polymers and nanoparticles. The focus is on controlling charge transport across interfaces to create materials that are useful for clean energy technologies. This collaborative project will be performed at two primarily undergraduate institutions. While achieving the technical goals of the project, the investigators will also educate the next generation of scientists in energy conversion and storage concepts and techniques. The project uses scalable earth-abundant materials and low-cost solution-based manufacturing approaches. This will facilitate the widespread deployment of technologies that make use of these composite materials.Technical DescriptionThis study enhances understanding of the physicochemical properties of the interface between components of a nanostructured conducting organic/inorganic composite and their influence on its charge transport, by exploring the role of an interfacial term on models of charge transport and experimentally testing those models. In particular, this interfacial term illuminates the emergence of composite transport phenomena that transcend the sum of the individual components. Previous models of electronic transport in these materials generally neglect interfacial effects by using an effective-medium approximation to treat the interpenetrating material as a combination of individual parallel and series phases. By incorporating the impacts of interfacial area, thickness, and interfacial energy barrier, this project guides the design of such materials for many applications, with a specific focus on these materials’ thermoelectric energy conversion and capacitive energy storage. At both Reed College and University of Portland, undergraduate students will be involved in all aspects of research, from initial laboratory setup and theoretical modeling to data analysis, presenting results, and writing papers. By design, this project uses straightforward solution-based fabrication and experimental techniques, which makes it particularly accessible to students who may be new to research and/or newly forming their identities as scientists. This project directly involves undergraduate students in research and will indirectly impact many others through improved research infrastructure, updated laboratory curriculum, and new opportunities for undergraduate thesis projects. It additionally links fundamental scientific understanding, both experimental and theoretical, with the engineering of technologies that are crucial for the future of our society.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.