Bakerian Prize Lecture by Professor Donal Bradley CBE FRS
Imperial College London
Plastics have become ubiquitous structural materials due to the ease with which they can be processed at low cost into complex shapes. Imagine a world in which metals and semiconductors have similar attributes – that is the world of Plastic Electronics.
This technology has the potential for use in multiple applications including displays, solar energy, solid-state lighting, imaging and sensing, and photonics. In terms of consumer electronics, this means a wide range of devices can be developed, updated, or revolutionised – from flat screen televisions to e-book readers, from smart windows to printed circuit boards.
Achieving ultimate performance requires a mastery of the chemical and physical structures of materials and interfaces on the molecular-nano-scale. The promise of this technology is founded on the ability to process materials using low temperature coating and printing methods that go beyond those of traditional semiconductor fabrication.
Professor Bradley, a pioneer in the field, will introduce plastic electronic materials, discuss how their molecular nature may be used to engineer desirable properties, and describe recent developments in device fabrication and application.
Speaker
Donal Bradley is the Lee-Lucas Professor of Experimental Physics, Director of the Centre for Plastic Electronics and Deputy Principal of the Faculty of Natural Sciences at Imperial College London. Professor Bradley's contributions to the subject have led to wide-ranging publications that place him amongst the 1% most highly cited physicists in the world. He is a co-inventor of conjugated polymer electroluminescence, co-founder of Cambridge Display Technology Ltd, co-founder and Director of Molecular Vision Ltd, member of C-Change (UK) LLP and Director of Solar Press Ltd with more than twenty patent families to his name.