Imperial team wins £250,000 for plastic electronics process development
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A team from Imperial College led by Professor Donal Bradley (pictured) has won the Royal Society’s Brian Mercer Award, worth £250,000, for its plans to develop two production processes for plastic electronics.
Prof Bradley and his colleagues believe the development of plastic electronics can support the widespread adoption of affordable, environmentally friendly energy generation and lighting. They are focusing on creating the next generation of solar cells and ‘solid state light sources. They claim plastic solar cells have the potential to make affordable photovoltaic energy a reality, whilst solid state lighting offers the prospect of major savings in carbon emissions.
Prof Bradley said: “It’s increasingly important for scientists not only to develop sustainable energy sources and energy efficient products, but also to find ways of making sure these innovations can be delivered to the mass market in a timely and cost effective way.”
The team will use the award to develop their technology. One process involves a novel approach to the photolithographic patterning. Its interlayer lithography technique is said to offer a way to apply the technique effectively to the patterning of organic semiconductors.
The second technique, invented in conjunction with Dr Patrick Degenaar of Imperial’s Institute for Bioengineering, is a stamp based process. This enables fragile layers of organic semiconductors to be transferred onto a variety of substrates, including glass and plastic, in order to build up a device structure.
