Soft electronic materials Summer School

Students on the SEM-MRes, cohort 10 of the PECDT and from CPE attended a week-long summer school at the fabulous Plas Tan y Bwlch study centre.

Students on the Soft Electronic Materials MRes, cohort 10 of the UKRI Plastic Electronics CDT and from Imperial's Centre of Excellence in Processable Electronics attended a week-long summer school at the fabulous Plas Tan y Bwlch study centre in Snowdonia, Wales.

The science agenda comprised of academic talks, research presentations from PECDT and CPE students and poster presentations from the SEM-MRes 2021-22 cohort.

Throughout the week, students took part in a highly entertaining group project, to develop a business plan based on a scientific advance. Students were given a topic to base a business plan around with topics including PV with integrated thermoelectric layer with figure of merit approaching a Carnot engine, organic LEDs that are monochrome at low AC drive frequency and multicolour at high frequency, stable water-splitting semiconducting powder that can be stirred in water to produce solar hydrogen @ 8% solar à hydrogen efficiency, a quantum dot computer that maintains ms coherence at room temperature, NIR photodetector with 50nm FWHM detector range, biodegradable display array based on chemo-chromic display, biodegradable skin sensor (eg for skin cancer) using organic semiconductors and a handheld portable spectrometer to detect air pollution with ppb level detectivity.

To help them develop a quality and effective business plan, Ugur Taniverdi, a student in Firat Guder’s research group who is currently in the process of starting his own business based on a scientific advance in his field led a tutorial session on how to write a business plan. There was a side game of business investment, and a frantic trading floor on the last day of the school.

Two afternoons were set aside for guided walks from the amazing Andy Collins @ChallengeSnowdonia in and around stunning Snowdonia.

Congratulations to all our prize winners:

•  SEM-MRes best poster: Beier Hu
• SEM-MRes runner up poster: Tianhao Lan
• SEM-MRes runner up poster: Guanchen Wu
• CPE best talk: Yasmine Baghdadi
• CPE runner up talk: Jolanda Muller
• PECDT joint best talk: Richard Pacalaj
• PECDT joint best talk: Gabriel Coulter
• Group project team valuation winner: Safety Sens8ion
• Group project team valuation runner up: Outdoor LED
• Group project best investor team: Thermopowerwear
• Group project company valuation winner: Safety Sens8ion

And huge thanks to all the Plas Tan y Bwlch study centre, Lloyds coaches, Andy, Jenny and Lauren, and to whoever organised the week-long glorious Welsh sunshine for us!