Phys.org  November 19, 2024 Organic mixed ionic-electronic conductors (OMIECs) have better properties than inorganic counterparts for biosensing, soft-robotics, neuromorphic computing, and smart medicine. However, slow ion transport relative to charge transport in these materials is a limiting factor. Researchers at Washington State University demonstrated that hydrophilic molecules local to an interfacial OMIEC nanochannel could accelerate ion transport with ion mobilities surpassing electrophoretic transport by more than an order of magnitude. Ion access to the interfacial channel could be gated through local surface energy. They applied the mechanism in a novel sensing device, which electronically detected and characterized chemical reaction dynamics […]