On the fundamentals of organic mixed ionic/electronic conductors

Abstract

The first Telluride Science meeting (formerly TSRC) on organic mixed ionic and electronic conductors (OMIECs), Oct 3–7, 2022, brought together researchers across the field to understand the fundamental processes and identify out-standing questions related to this exciting class of materials. OMIECs are organic materials that promote the transport of mobile electronic charge carriers while simultaneously supporting ionic transport and ionic–electronic coupling. These properties open up broad areas of applications from energy to bioelectronics. Devices include batteries, supercapacitors, actuators, electrochromic displays, and organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs). They possess the key strengths of traditional organic electronic materials, such as synthetic tunability and low-temperature processing. Despite the recent advances in devices and applications achieved with such materials, many challenges and gaps in understanding remain. These topics hold the key to designing next-generation materials and devices that continue to push the limits of performance and stability and facilitate novel functionality. This perspective aims to summarize the current understanding, conversations, and debates that made this TSRC particularly engaging, enabling new directions and searching for missing pieces of the OMIEC puzzle.