Mechanisms and applications of ion and dopant motion in organic semiconductors

Using a novel neuromorphic device as testbed system, this project pursues two interconnected goals. First, we will investigate the fundamental mechanisms of dopant and ion motion in organic semiconductors. Depending on the application, this motion should either be slow/absent, e.g. in injection/transport layers and thermoelectrics, or fast, as in sensors or neuromorphic devices. Special emphasis will be put on the largely unexplored but anticipated correlation with electronic motion that would, in the long run, even enable ion pumps. Second, we will develop organic memristive (neuromorphic) devices on basis of novel organic materials coming from collaboration partners. Here, the goal is to control hysteresis in the form of short- and long-term plasticity of the two-terminal conductivity, using dynamic doping by mobile ions.

Apart from being embedded in the Research Training Group on mixed ionic-electronic transport, the candidate will work in a small team that studies doped organic semiconductors using experimental, numerical and theoretical methods.