We envision a radically-new science-enabled technology that rests on a completely novel material engineering approach combined with highly advanced characterization methods. We will take advantage of a unique molecular architecture strategy spatially separating ion- and electron-transport pathways to ensure volumetric ion injection and transport in order to optimize the uptake and release of ions in the transistor channel and to promote efficient, long-range, electronic charge transport so as to maximize the response of the transistors to very weak signals.

In contrast to field-effect transistors, where charge flows through a thin interfacial region, the identifying characteristic of OECTs is that polymer doping occurs over the entire volume of the channel, thereby allowing for large modulations in drain current at low-gate voltages. We will seek for organic material architectures maximizing the product of the electronic mobility and the volumetric capacitance, develop high-gain and low-power complementary circuits based on printed OECTs, and use these as amplifying transducers in the context of Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) that mitigate losses in signal quality due to the dura, the skull and the scalp, thereby enabling less-invasive BCIs.