Author: Carmen Ocal

Scanning Probe Microscopy Platform within the InCAEM project 

InCAEM is part of the Planes Complementarios programme, launched and funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation together with the Generalitat de Catalunya, with the support of NextGeneration EU funds. InCAEM is led by ALBA and belongs to the Advanced Materials project, aimed at developing new sustainable materials to be used in batteries, electric vehicles or solar cells, among others.

The SPM platform will count with diverse SPMs within the ALBA synchrotron installations to provide the local probe characterization in correlative experiments with ALBA beamlines.
ICMAB is responsible of two laboratories housing three SPMs: STM/ncAFM under UHV (SPECS) and two FX40 (Park Systems) working in different environments from gas to liquids, one installed inside a Glovebox (MBraun).

Full updated information of the joint project can be found in the section “InCAEM” of the ALBA instrumentation website.

Operando and in-situ multimode characterization of organic semiconductors for a comprehensive design of high performance electronic devices (OPINOS)

The exceptional chemical versatility of pi-conjugated organic materials as organic semiconductors
(OSCs), coupled with their ease in processing and adaptability to any substrate shape, size, and
type, make them excellent candidates for a broad range of (opto)electronic applications addressing
the fields of energy, environment, health, information, communication, robotics, and sensing. And
still, in spite of the great progress over the last few years, organic light emitting diodes (OLED)
are the only organic devices commercialized so far. One of the solid-state devices that has been at
the heart of the quest for commercially viable organic electronics is the organic field-effect
transistor (OFET), not only as electronic component in circuits, but also for the development of low cost
(bio)-chemical sensors. Furthermore, co-crystallization of molecules with electron donor (D) and
acceptor (A) properties to form charge-transfer complexes (CTCs) have emerged as one of the promising
field of research to obtain novel electrical and optical properties, which are far beyond the
performance of single materials, and avoiding complicated and time-consuming organic synthesis
procedures. Selection of suitable D and A systems enables a large range of tunable structures, i.e.,
offering a library of high-performance organic semiconductors with a fascinating prospect of
applications. While the parent compounds tend to be unipolar semiconductors, CTCs can vary in band
gap from insulators to metals, and can even be superconductors. In relation to OFETs, organic
CTCs provide a new way to realize OSC semiconductors with ambipolar behavior and air-stable n-type
OFETs and near-infrared photo-response. However, several challenges remain before OFETs-related
applications can become a widespread commercial reality. Despite its accepted importance by the
organic electronics community, optimizing the performance of OSCs through thin film engineering is
complicated by the fact that the relationship between microstructure, morphology, and transport
properties is still far from being well established. Besides, polymorphism can add a major hurdle to
overcome for a promising functional property to be exploited.

The EIFFEL project responds to the urgent need for advancements in NFA materials and NFA-based OSCs, as highlighted by the REPowerEU initiative. While Europe has lost leadership in device performance to Asia, particularly in NFAs, EIFFEL aims to be a game-changer by employing goal-driven design strategies and collaborating with stakeholders. 

EIFFEL is structured in 6 work-packages (WPs): three are dedicated to research activities, including 10 individual projects, and the remaining three are related to training (WP 2), dissemination (WP 6) and management (WP 1)

Full information about the EIFFEL network and the consortium will be available and updated in the EIFFEL website and social media platforms:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eiffel.doctoral.network

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/eiffel-dn

Twitter: https://twitter.com/EiffelDN