Active Polymer Materials for Flexible Electronics: Molecular Design and Processing for Efficient Macroscale Charge Transport Pathways

Printed, flexible electronics have potential as low cost alternatives for devices in industries ranging from energy to health care to security. The successful introduction of these devices however, relies on the design and development of sustainable, robust and reliable materials and processes. Studies have shown that not only does device performance depend critically on semiconductor alignment at many length scales, materials’ mesostructure can be manipulated in solution prior to device fabrication. Recently, it has been demonstrated that even with no perturbations, polymer semiconductors self-assemble in solution over time. Observations surrounding the behavior of these materials suggest that requisite macroscopic long-range order required for high performance devices may be achieved through process optimization which utilizes knowledge associated with materials structure-process-property relationships. This presentation will explore how we can derive critical insights into the structure-process-property space using well-coupled modeling and experimental approaches, and how those can impact the design and development of all-printed, flexible electronic devices.