Alexandra Paterson (Uni. of Kentucky): "Next-Generation Design Strategies for Organic Mixed Conductor Technologies"

After Alexandra (Zan) F. Paterson received a BSc in Physics from University of Exeter in 2009, she spent 4 years working in industry as an Applied Physicist at QinetiQ Ltd. Paterson received a PhD in Solid State Physics from Imperial College London under the supervision of Prof. Thomas D. Anthopoulos in 2017. Following 3 years postdoc experience at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), she started her appointment as an Assistant Professor at University of Kentucky. Paterson’s research group work on organic electronic materials and devices, and specialize in organic transistors.

Abstract: Organic mixed ionic-electronic conductors (OMIECs) and organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) have enormous potential to impact everyday life and society – from low-cost biotechnologies in a widespread healthcare internet of things, to versatile neuromorphic computing technologies operating at the bio-hybrid interface. While significant research progress has been made, poor stability remains a critical bottleneck for OECTs. Additionally, identifying, enhancing, and measuring figures of merit that inform the ‘material-device-circuit-application’ research stack is essential for the success of emergent OMIEC electronics. Here, materials and device design strategies that increase important figures of merit will be discussed, as well as how the figure of merit, the µC* product, can be overstated when extracted from OECTs.