The twentieth century saw an explosion in semiconductor electronics from the first transistor, which was used in hearing aids, to the ultrafast computers of today. A similar surge is anticipated for Plastic Electronics based on a new type of semiconducting material which is soft and flexible rather than hard and brittle. Plastic Electronics is considered a disruptive technology, not displacing conventional electronics, but creating new markets because it enables the printing of electronic materials at low temperatures so that plastic, fabric, paper and other flexible materials can be used as substrates. Printing minimises the waste of materials and low cost roll-to-roll manufacturing can be used because the substrates are flexible. New applications include intelligent or interactive packaging, RFID tags, e-readers, flexible power sources and lighting panels. The organic field effect transistor (OFET) is the fundamental building block of plastic electronics and is used to amplify and switch electronic signals. The organic semiconducting channel connects the source and drain electrodes and is separated from the gate electrode by an insulating dielectric. A positive/negative gate voltage induces negative/positive charges at the insulator/semiconductor interface and so controls the conductivity of the semiconductor and consequently the current flowing between the source and drain. The future success of the industry depends on the availability of high performance solution processable materials and low voltage device operation. The semiconductors must have high electron and hole mobility (velocity/electric field) achieved by the hopping of carriers between closely spaced molecular sites. A new class of lamellar polymers, mostly developed in the UK, provides the required state-of the art performance because of their macromolecular self-organisation. However a major problem is that the materials are only well-ordered in microscopic domains; trapping in grain boundaries and poor interconnectivity between domains substantially reduce performance and reliability. The low voltage operation of OFETs requires that the gate insulators have a high dielectric constant. We propose novel insulating dielectrics for OFETs to simultaneously align the plastic semiconductors and ensure low voltage operation. They will be solution processable at low temperatures for compatibility with printing and other large area manufacturing techniques. We will synthesise and characterise the new materials and test their performance using state of the art semiconductors. We will engage with industrial end-users to ensure that our technology is exploited so contributing to the high-tech economy in an area where the UK is already pre-eminent. We anticipate that our novel insulators will provide monodomain order over large areas to the overlying semiconductor and so will enhance OFET performance and stability. Hence we aim to hasten the commercialisation of Plastic Electronics.

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This application aims to catalyse and sustain a new dimension in UK research capability in physical organic chemistry. Our strategic alliance in physical organic chemistry will provide a unique continuum of expertise to tackle research opportunities in areas as diverse as materials chemistry, synthesis methodologies and pharmaceutical discovery and development. It will have the capability to address issues from solid-state to solution and gas-phase, from small molecules to biopolymers, and from nanoscale to pilot plant. We focus on topics of international significance to industry worldwide as well as to academic chemistry, that will help to (i) drive the creation of 21st-century electronic materials, devices and technologies (ii) understand and exploit methodologies for assisting chemical reactions with the potential to revolutionise energy use in chemicals and pharmaceuticals industries (iii) provide new and more effective medicines through understanding molecular recognition in pharmaceutical systems including drug-receptor, drug-drug and drug-carrier complexes. Its importance is underlined by the initial substantial support from diverse sectors of the chemicals and pharmaceuticals industry that we have so far put in place. It will initially lead to 26 new appointments, and we look forward to even more dynamic growth as the program unfolds.

The case for supporting clean, renewable technologies is strong with UK Government commitments to ensuring 15 % of our energy comes from renewable sources by 2020, this represents a seven fold increase in the market share for renewables in less than a decade. This target can only be achieved by implementing a combination of complementary solutions including biomass, wind, wave and solar. In particular solar energy harvesting has the potential to become competitive, in both economic and performance terms, if current limitations associated with next generation technologies can be overcome. In addition to environmental benefits there is the potential for significant economic development, recent analysis suggests that the entire renewable energy sector could support up to half a million jobs in the UK by 2020. The demand is present, evidenced by the increase in UK PV capacity from 10.9 Mw in 2005 to an estimated 26.5 Mw in 2009. Inorganic-organic hybrid photovoltaic (h-PV) devices are a realistic prospect for the long-term development of entirely solution processable, scalable devices on rigid and flexible substrates. The pairing of a metal oxide (TiO2, ZnO) with a conjugated polymer to form a hybrid device is an attractive combination of materials. For example, ZnO provides efficient electron mobility, effective light-scattering, is of low cost and can be formed in a wide variety of (nano) structures from aqueous solution. The absorbing, hole-transporting conjugated polymers, such as poly(3-hexylthiphene)(P3HT), support a wide variety of processing routes and exhibit some of the best charge transport of all organic semiconductors. However progress made towards realising such h-PV technologies has been slow. Reported power conversion efficiency (PCE) values are typically < 1%, with some more recent publications reporting 2%. This compares with reported efficiencies of > 8% for commercial organic-PVs. The nanostructured devices that will be prepared in this program will provide controlled bicontinuous networks for charge, and importantly will allow control of the polymer morphology - a parameter that has received little attention in h-PVs - although it is known to strongly influence exciton generation, free carrier transport and light absorption. This unique combination of materials and processing strategies presents an exciting opportunity for the development of h-PV devices that can overcome the current performance limitations by allowing control of the structural and morphological properties of the device not possible with other material combinations or processing techniques.

The development of cheap renewable energy sources is required to reduce the environmental effects associated with the use of conventional fossil fuel based energy sources. Of all the renewable energy technologies, solar energy has the greatest potential as a world power source. For this reason, solar photovoltaic (PV), the direct conversion of sunlight to electricity, is expected to play a significant role in future electricity supply. Here we focus on the development of photovoltaic devices based upon organic semiconducting materials. This project focusses on two issues that are widely recognized as being key for the development of low-cost efficient and stable photovoltaic devices: (i) the development of low cost alternatives to indium tin oxide (ITO) as the transparent conducting electrode and (ii) control of nanomorphology of the donor-acceptor interface. This project will involve the design and synthesis of new electrode materials and the use of molecular self-organization strategies to control the donor-acceptor film morphology at the nanometre length scale to deliver high efficiency organic solar cell that are capable of being scaled up cost effectively. This project will also lead to an improved fundamental understanding of device function. This multidisciplinary project brings together chemists, physicists, materials scientists and engineers with world-leading expertise in metal oxide electrode design, polymer synthesis and manufacturing. This project also involves collaboration with Pilkington Glass, Merck Chemicals and BP Solar.