AMADEus Seminar - Pr. Yuning Li, Wednesday 17 October 2012 - 10:00 am, ENSCBP - Amphi 3

Abstract

Printed organic electronics have received much attention in recent years, which have potential applications in large-area flat panel displays, radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, sensors and solar cells. As a key component for most printed electronics, organic thin film transistors (OTFTs) have long been viewed inferior to silicon technologies in terms of electrical performance. However, recent advances in the development of organic semiconductor materials and device optimization techniques have significantly improved the performance of OTFTs and commercialization of OTFTs into certain markets is on the horizon. This presentation will highlight our design strategies for several polymer semiconductors, which show very high charge carrier mobility that approaches or even exceeds that of amorphous silicon semiconductor. In addition to their high hole mobility, some of polymer semiconductors developed in our group have desirable optical band gaps and energy levels for organic solar cells. When used as donors, these polymers showed promising photovoltaic performance. To enable all-printed electronics, low temperature processable conductive inks are also required. The development of metal nanoparticle-based conductive inks will be described.

Bio sketch of the speaker

Dr. Yuning Li is an associate professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering with affiliation to the Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology (WIN) at University of Waterloo. He received his bachelor and master degrees in polymer materials from Dalian University of Technology in China in 1985 and 1988, respectively, and his Ph.D. in materials science from Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (JAIST) in 1999. He started working on organic electronics in 1999 when he joined Prof. Steven Holdcroft’s group at Simon Fraser University, Canada. After a short stay at the National Research Council Canada (NRC) in Dr. Jianfu Ding’s group as an NSERC Visiting Fellow from 2002 to 2003, he was recruited by Xerox Research Centre of Canada (XRCC), where he was responsible for the development of printable semiconductors and conductive inks for printed organic thin film transistors. In 2008, he joined the Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE), A*STAR, in Singapore, as a senior scientist, leading several research projects on organic thin film transistors and organic photovoltaics. He came back to Canada in July 2010 and became a faculty member at the University of Waterloo. His current research interests include electronic materials and nanomaterials for printed organic and inorganic thin film transistors, organic/hybrid solar cells, and organic photodetectors. He is a co-recipient of the 2^nd Runner Up in Materials Category for "The Best and the Brightest New Technology for 2004" by Wall Street Journal and a co-recipient of the 3^rd Annual NASA Nano 50™ Awards (2007) for Printed Organic Electronics. He has authored over 70 journal publications and holds 60 granted US patents.