Organic mixed ionic-electronic conductors for low-power electronics

Organic mixed ionic-electronic conductors (OMIECs) are an enabling technology for many (opto-)electronic and energy harvesting/storage applications. In OMIECs, the strong coupling between ions and electrons enables efficient charge storage and signal transduction. When implemented as the active channel materials in organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs), OMIECs endow these devices with record-high transconductance, low operational voltage, and high current density. These attributes make the OECTs a promising technology for chemical and biological sensing, medical diagnostics, large-scale printed electronic circuitries, and neuromorphic computing. Here, we will summarize our effort to develop OMIECs for OECTs. We will discuss the impact of polymer backbone on the OECT performance and strategies to build low-power complementary circuits. We will show large-area printing/integration of these devices and demonstrate neuromimicking circuits capable of learning.