Events

Date: 11 May 2026   Time: 14:00 - 15:30

Location: People's Palace (PP1 LT)

Title: Organic Electronics: From OLEDs and Photovoltaics to Neuromorphic Computing

Abstract: Organic semiconductors have enabled a range of new technologies. In the case of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), the materials and devices have reached commercial applications in full-color displays in smart phones and televisions and in lighting. For organic solar cells or photovoltaics, advances in materials and devices have also substantially addressed the twin fundamental challenges of large-binding-energy excitons and narrow absorption bands in organic semiconductors. In particular, the journey from fullerene-based devices to non-fullerene acceptor (NFA)-based polymer solar cells has been long, challenging, and rewarding for the field of organic photovoltaics (OPVs). Recent advances in non-fullerene acceptor materials, donor copolymers and blend devices have pushed the OPV device efficiency past 20 %. We recently discovered that organic electronics can function in ambient air for more than 21 years. Our recent advances in organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) promise applications in bioelectronics and neuromorphic computing.

Professor Samson A. Jenekhe FRSC holds the Frank and Julie Jungers Chair in Engineering, Professor of Chemical Engineering, and Professor of Chemistry at the University of Washington, Seattle. He received his B.S. from Michigan Technological University, and his M.S. in chemical engineering, M.A. in Philosophy, and Ph.D. in chemical engineering (1985) from the University of Minnesota. Jenekhe's research contributions are in the chemistry, physics, and engineering device applications of organic/polymer semiconductors, including materials synthesis, photophysics, charge transport, organic light-emitting diodes, organic electronics, and organic photovoltaics. He is the co-author of over 330 peer-reviewed research articles in journals and 28 granted US patents. He received the 2014 Charles M. A. Stine Award for Excellence in Materials Science and Engineering from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE). For his pioneering research on the photophysics and charge transport properties of semiconducting polymers, he was awarded the 2021 Polymer Physics Prize from the American Physical Society. Jenekhe is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of the American Physical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Royal Society of Chemistry.

In 2025, Professor Jenekhe was awarded the Royal Society of Chemistry Materials Chemistry open prize: de Gennes Prize for his outstanding contributions to the synthetic chemistry, physics, and applications of conjugated polymers