Welcome to the printed electronics and nanoionics laboratory.
Here, we work on unconventional use of electrochemistry to control material properties. On one hand, electric charge double layer (EDL) is utilized to control carrier
accumulation/ depletion in solution-processed semiconductor thin films. This approach leads to technologically relevant activity in the field of printed electronics based
on inorganic semiconductors. Fully-printed thin film transistors (TFTs) are prepared that are typically gated with composite solid polymer electrolytes (CSPEs) or other
novel printable dielectric possibilities (e.g. self-assembled nanodielectrics, SANDs). The area of expertise of the group lies in solution processing/ printing of different
metallic (pure metal, transparent conductors), semiconducting (oxides, carbon based, 2D semiconductors etc.) and insulator inks (CSPEs, SANDs) towards fabrication of various
functional devices, with a primary emphasis on field-effect devices. Optimization of material composition, printing parameters, curing routines and device geometry is
performed regularly in order to obtain augmented static/high frequency performance at a device, as well as at the circuit level.
In an alternative approach, electrochemical surface or bulk chemistry can also be utilized to tune physical properties of materials reversibly. One example of such phenomenon
can be the use reversible electrochemistry to control bulk magnetization or magnetic phase transition. Here, a judicious selection of the magnetic material and the electrolyte
is essential in order to promote either controlled surface chemical reaction (chemisorption, as in case of pseudocapacitors) or precise diffusion of ions inside the electrode
material (as in case of intercalation-type batteries or fuel cells). Such electrochemical reactions, when fully reversible, may enable a voltage controlled tunable and dynamic
variation in physical properties of bulk materials
