Commercialising novel semiconductor materials

Novel semiconductor materials such as organics, quantum dots, hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites and 2D materials have generated a lot of interest in the past decade, with promises to high performance, light weight, flexible and low-cost devices, such as LEDs, photovoltaics, sensors etc. Yet, apart from higher end displays for mobile phones and TVs, devices based on these materials have yet to see wide spread commercialisation. In this talk we will explore some of the challenges these technologies face on route to commercialisation. Drawing on historic examples, we will explore how these challenges might be overcome and what new kinds of devices and technologies may emerge in the coming decade.

Bio

Akshay Rao is group leader, EPSRC Early Career Fellow and Winton Advanced Research Fellow at the Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge. His research interests include the electronic and optical properties of organic semiconductors, quantum dots, hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites and 2D semiconductors, and developing new devices with these materials.

Akshay received his undergraduate degree from St Stephen’s College, University of Delhi in 2006 and his MSc from the University of Sheffield in 2007. He received his PhD from the University of Cambridge in 2011, working in the group of Prof. Sir Richard Friend. From 2011 to 2014 he held a Research Fellowship in Cambridge. As of October 2014, he leads an independent research group (www.rao.oe.phy.cam.ac.uk) at Cambridge. His work has been recognized with the award of the 2017 Henry Moseley Medal of the Institute of Physics, for outstanding early career contributions to experimental physics.

Agenda

5.00pm: Registration

5.30pm: Akshay Rao, followed by Q&A.

6.30pm: Networking

7pm: Event closes