TOP > News > The 44rd International Biomedical Engineering Seminar（November 10, 2026）
News
| Date | November 10, 2026 14:00-15:30 |
| Venue | Meeting Room 1, 2nd Floor, University Hall, Yokohama Campus, Institute of Science Tokyo |
| Guest Speaker | Dr. Deepak Venkateshvaran（Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, U.K.） |
| Title | Unravelling the link between molecular mechanics and charge transport in organic semiconductors |
| Abstract | For decades, organic semiconductors have been prized for their mechanical flexibility. This raises a basic question: does softness limit how well they transport charge? My talk treats mechanics not as a property separate from transport but as inseparable from it. Afterall, macroscopic stiffness is the long-wavelength, zero-frequency limit of the acoustic phonon response, and the low-energy phonons it reflects are precisely those implicated in charge transport. To probe the link, I will show how atomic force microscopy serves as a real-space probe of molecular order and nanomechanics, complementing the reciprocal-space view from X-ray scattering. Higher-eigenmode imaging resolves polymer packing below one nanometre under ambient conditions, while force–distance spectroscopy maps local stiffness across the same surfaces [1]. In semicrystalline polymers, nanoscale stiffness tracks structural order [2], but more tellingly, the interconnectedness of stiff domains along the charge-transport direction is what tracks carrier mobility. In the molecular semiconductor series based on alkylated DNTT, side chains expand the unit cell to soften the crystal out-of-plane, yet stiffen it in-plane, in step with mobility [3]. Taken together, these results point to a common structural origin for mechanics and charge transport in molecular materials. They establish nanomechanical measurement as a tactile complement to scattering – reading structure in real space, where it matters most for transport – and provide new design guidelines for next generation molecular semiconductors with even higher mobilities than those today. |
Assoc. Prof. Hiroaki Iino（Sensing and Processing Research Core）
20261110
国立大学法人東京科学大学
総合研究院 未来産業技術研究所
Laboratory for Future Interdisciplinary Research of Science and Technology (FIRST),
Institute of Integrated Research (IIR),
Institute of Science Tokyo
MAP
MAP
Copyright (C) Institute of Science Tokyo. All rights reserved.
このページの先頭へ