Organic Mixed Conductors New Functionality and Fundamentals: How Charge-induced Ordering at the Mesoscale Impacts Performance by Professor Alberto Salleo

MSE Distinguished Speaker Series 2026 Hosted by Professor Nripan Mathews

Abstract

Conjugated polymers find applications ranging from solar cells to artificial synapses and biosensors. They are also promising for energy storage as they can replace multiple elements of a standard electrode. Similarly, conjugated polymers show promise as electrocatalysts in oxygen reduction reactions where they could replace precious metals and rare earths. Thus, conjugated polymers are unique enablers of "iontronics", i.e. ion-driven electronic devices. 

In principle, these materials can be designed de novo to perform desired functions. Despite their enormous potential, structure-property relationships in conjugated polymers are far from understood. Structure-property relationships are further complicated by the fact that these materials are “dynamic” and change their structure as they interact with electronic or ionic charges. Surprisingly, structural changes at the molecular scale translate all the way up to the mesoscale via cooperative effects. I will describe our work over the years in using optical, electrical and electrochemical characterization, synchrotron-based X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy to understand how these materials "work".  

Biography

Professor Alberto Salleo
Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Stanford University

Alberto Salleo is the Hong Seh and Vivian W. M. Lim Professor at Stanford, where he served as Chair of the Materials Science Department from 2019 until 2025. He currently also serves as the Deputy Director at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. 

Alberto has been a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher since 2015. At Stanford, he won the Tau Beta Pi Award for teaching in the School of Engineering and the Gores Award for Excellence in Teaching, Stanford’s highest teaching honor. Alberto is a Knight of the Italian Republic; he is a Fellow of the MRS, the European Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Inventors and the AAAS, as well as a member of Academia Europaea.