Abstract
In October 2015 it will be twenty-five years since the publication of the first paper on conjugated polymer electroluminescence. This paper is one of the most highly cited papers in the physical sciences and its appearance led to an explosion of interest in solution processed electronic materials for a diverse range of applications, a field of research now known as plastic electronics. Solution processing offers a paradigm shift from high temperature, high energy cost, capital intensive processing methods that have traditionally been used for conventional inorganic crystalline semiconductors to low temperature, low energy and capital cost, high throughput methods more traditionally found in the printing industry. Such changes are anticipated to be especially important for large area applications such as displays, lighting and solar energy generation but also offer the prospect of novel form factors and potentially interesting price points for electronics as needed for internet of things and related high volume uses. Longer-term prospects extend to photonics and optical communications. In the talk, the speaker will survey the field, introducing some of the important advances that have been made and some of the remaining challenges. The speaker will focus mainly on topics that fall under the 2015 UNESCO Year of Light and Light-Based Technologies banner, namely light emission materials and devices and control of optical properties through structure and patterning.
About the speaker
Prof Donal Bradley graduated from the Imperial College of Science and Technology with a first class BS and ARCS in Physics in 1983. He obtained his PhD from the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge in 1987. After spending two years as Research Associate at Corpus Christi College in Cambridge and Toshiba R&D Center in Japan, he was appointed University Assistant Lecturer in Physics at the Cavendish Laboratory and College Lecturer in Physics and Title A Fellow at Churchill College of the University of Cambridge in 1989, subsequently becoming Director of Studies in Physics. He then moved to a Readership in the Department of Physics at the University of Sheffield in 1993, being promoted to Professor in 1995. During a seven-year stay in Sheffield, he founded the Molecular Electronic Materials and Devices Group and held both the Royal Society Amersham International Senior Research Fellowship and a Leverhulme Research Fellowship. He was also Warden of Tapton Hall of Residence, and Co-Director, then Director of the Centre for Molecular Materials. He returned to his Alma Mater as the Professor of Experimental Solid State Physics in 2000 and is currently the Lee-Lucas Professor of Experimental Physics, Director of the Centre for Plastic Electronics and Vice-Provost (Research) at Imperial College London. In September 2015, he will move to the University of Oxford as Head of the Division of Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences and Professor of Engineering Science and Physics.
Prof Bradley’s research focuses on the science and application of soluble semiconductors and related materials, a field known as plastic electronics. He is a co-founder of Cambridge Display Technology Ltd, now a subsidiary of the Sumitomo Chemical Company. He also co-founded medical diagnostics company Molecular Vision Ltd, now a member of the Abingdon Health Group, and he sits on the Board of Solar Press (UK) Ltd, a Carbon Trust start up in photovoltaic energy generation. He has published 563 papers with > 48,900 ISI citations (h-index = 95) and is a named co-inventor for 25 patent families. He is a 2014 ISI Highly Cited Researcher in Materials Science.
Prof Bradley’s contributions have been further recognized by being appointed as a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE), Fellowships of the Royal Society, Institute of Physics, Institution of Engineering and Technology and Royal Society of Arts, and an Honorary Degree from the University of Sheffield. He is also a recipient of many prizes including the Royal Society Bakerian Lecture, the Institution of Engineering and Technology Faraday Medal, the Institute of Physics Faraday Medal, the European Latsis Prize for Nanoengineering, the Society for Information Display Jan Rachman Prize and the European Union Descartes Prize.
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