Visualizing charge transfer across length scales in printable, conductive polymer electrodes*

Organic electrochemical transistors leverage the unique hybrid electrical/ionic conduction mechanism of conductive polymers when interfaced with mobile electrolyte species. Understanding the underlying structure-function properties of charge transport and transfer is critical to new technological development. Specifically, semicrystalline conductive polymers exhibit a heterogeneous spatial landscape of sub-populations of different electronic and physical properties at nanometer length scales. Each of these sub-populations is expected to have different potential-dependent electrical and ionic charge transport properties, but these behaviors are difficult to resolve at nanometer length scales. This talk will cover a tool suite of spectroelectrochemical methodologies that enables resolution of sub-population behaviors in conductive polymer electrodes, including measurement of potential-dependent ion diffusion coefficients. New nanoscale characterization approaches to measure localized charge transfer rates and structures will also be discussed.