Presentation description

Organic Mixed Ionic-Electric Conductors (OMIECs) are soft, semi-conductive materials that transport both ions and electrons. Digital interfaces rely on the usage of electrons while biological systems work through ions and molecules. The integrated movement of ions and electrons in OMIECs provides a means to connect the present gap between digital and biological interfaces. However, there currently remains to be little conclusive research that conveys how particular ions move through these soft materials. This research project is aimed at determining how novel ions impact its doping capabilities and influence the structure of the polymer. The term 'doping' in this context refers to the process of introducing ions into the polymer matrix to modify its properties, and 'doping kinetics' deals with the rates at which this doping process occurs. To analyze these properties, two polymers, P3MEEET and regioregular P3HT, were submersed in sulfonate salts with various functional groups and monitored using various electrochemical methods such as cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance (EQCM), and spectroelectrochemistry (SEC). Further characterization will be done to determine structural changes of the polymer through nanoscale imaging such as grazing incidence wide angle X-ray scattering (GIWAXS) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Current results show that fluorinated and deactivated aromatic sulfonate ions contain faster doping kinetics in comparison to their counterparts. Understanding the correlation between the structure of a molecule and its impact on an OMIECs doping capabilities will pave the way for crafting bio-electronic devices that have improved efficiency and increased biocompatibility.