CPE highlights from Imperial Festival 2014

CPE students host a dedicated Plastic Electronics stand at the third annual Imperial Festival

Now entering its third year, the Imperial Festival is a chance for us scientists to show off our most exciting new work, with workshops, talks and ‘research zones’ where members of the public can quiz the scientists. The audience ranged from Imperial alumni and industry consultants to inquisitive primary school children (and their equally inquisitive parents). The event seemed to attract just about every person visiting South Kensington on Friday and Saturday, and was packed for its entire duration.  The Centre for Plastic Electronics had two stalls in the Light Zone; one headed by James Bannock from Chemistry and the other by Xuhua Wang from Physics.

Members of the public began by seeing and hearing about how the polymers were being made with the aid of the de Mello Group’s Lab-in-a-Suitcase demonstrator, and then how these materials were transformed into flexible electronic devices. There were flexible solar cells powering fans, organic lighting, printed transistor circuits and bendy coloured OLEDs. Our audience included ex-chemists who couldn’t quite believe that polymers could conduct electricity; parents who couldn’t remember what carbon was and children who wanted to take the OLEDs with them. Every single visitor wanted to buy a plastic solar cell, and asked how long it would take for our work to be on the market.

Over the two days the stalls were staffed by Jim Bailey, James Bannock, Nathan Chander, Nathan Cheetham, Iain Hamilton, Ed Lofts, Tom Phillips, Jess Wade, Seb Wood and Xuhua Wang