Project Description:

Organic mixed ionic–electronic conductors (OMIECs) are an emerging family of materials crucial in the development of flexible, bio-, and optoelectronics. In IMIECs, the cyclic redox reaction is often associated with a mechanical breathing strain which deforms the active material and degrades the device reliability. The goal of the project is to understand the fundamental coupling between mechanics and electrochemistry in a variety of mixed ionic and electronic conductors, including battery materials, organic electrochemical transistors, and organic electrochromic polymers. The research project will be carried through by well-coordinated material synthesis, in-situ/operando mechanical characterization, and computational modeling. The mechanical measurement of breathing strain, rational design of organic materials through mechanical reliability analysis, and theoretical understanding on the intimate coupling between the redox kinetics and mechanical stresses will be the focus of study. The research is highly interdisciplinary involving two research groups of complementary expertise on mechanics and material chemistry.

Start Date:

Flexible

Postdoc Qualifications:

Requirements: (1) Candidates should have PhD degree in mechanics, material science, chemistry, or related fields. Candidates with career goal in academia are preferred. (2) Candidates should have demonstrated expertise in mechanics (computational or experimental), material synthesis, and electrochemical analysis. (3) Candidates must have excellent team spirit, scientific writing capability, English communication skills, and design sense. Candidates need to be able and willing to work in a highly interdisciplinary environment.

Co-Advisors:

Dr. Kejie Zhao, kjzhao@purdue.edu, School of Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University

Dr. Jianguo Mei, jgmei@purdue.edu, Department of Chemistry, Purdue University.

Bibliography:

1. Xiaokang Wang, Ke Chen, Luize Scalco de Vasconcelos, Jiazhi He, Yung C. Shin, Jianguo Mei, Kejie Zhao. Mechanical breathing in organic electrochromics. Nature Communications. 11, 211 (2020).
2. Xiaokang Wang, Luize Scalco de Vasconcelos, Ke Chen, Kuluni Perera, Jianguo Mei, Kejie Zhao. In-situ measurement of breathing strain and mechanical degradation in organic electrochromic polymers. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. 12, 50889–50895 (2020).