CBE - Automated/Robotic Organic Mixed Ionic Electronic Conductor Research
Organic mixed ionic electronic conductors (OMIECs) are polymers (plastics) that efficiently transport and couple both ionic (salt) and electronic charge (electricity). This ionic-electronic coupling enables devices with unique functionality such as energy storage electrodes, synthetic neurons, soft robotics, and electrochromics to name a few applications.
Automated robotic experimentation (self driving lab) is a route to accelerate scientific research by efficiently and reproducibly interrogating high-dimensional experimental parameter spaces that traditional manual step-wise approaches are unsuited to tackle. OMIEC experimentation is one such case especially primed to benefit from automated robotic experimentation.
Students engaged in this project will broadly study and develop new OMIEC materials and devices by leveraging an automated robotic laboratory for both fabrication and characterization of nanoscale thick OMIEC films.
Students should join this lab if they desire to be part of a young and energetic team using cutting edge tools to study next generation materials for electronic, biomedical, and energy applications. This project provides the opportunity to learn many advanced fabrication, measurement, and automation tools used in research and industry. Adequate progress on this project will ensure co-authorship on papers employing the materials and devices developed.