Imperial’s Institutes and Centres provide vital training, research and collaborative facilities for Imperial students and staff, and Imperial’s partner organisations.
The Centre for Processable Electronics (CPE) performs high-impact and cutting-edge research and development in the broad area of “soft” electronics. It covers a wide range of applications including organic photovoltaics, organic light-emitting diodes and organic thin film transistors.
Formally launched in 2009 after almost a decade of strategic investments by Imperial, the Centre comprises around 40 academic members and over 300 students and researchers. The CPE take a multidisciplinary approach to solving current multi-faceted scientific challenges by bringing together academics from across departments and training students from a variety of backgrounds.
The CPE has a large number of industrial collaborators and is always interested in hearing from companies or other external organisations to discuss potential collaborations and partnerships. Please contact Lisa Bushby in the first instance.
The CPE’s External Advisory Board includes several industrial representatives such as CSEM, Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology and Cambridge Display Technology, and offers advice to help guide and shape the direction of the Centre.
The CPE also runs a standalone MRes in Soft Electronic Materials as a research focussed Masters programme. It is an interdisciplinary course lasting one year focused on creating and optimising new types of electronic materials and devices for a diverse range of applications.
Processable Electronics Centre for Doctoral Training
In addition to the Centre, research in processable electronics at Imperial is supported by EPSRC's national Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in processable electronics. Through training and the transfer of knowledge, this £7.2 million programme aims to develop the next generation of researchers to tackle a wide range of technological and industrially relevant problems in this burgeoning field. The breadth of expertise in the CPE provides an ideal environment for training, giving students the skills to confidently engage in multidisciplinary team working.
The postgraduate programmes encourage students to have a commercial awareness with the delivery of additional courses on entrepreneurship, intellectual property, project management and ethics.
Sponsored research
Over the course of their PhD, the students have the opportunity to perform high-impact cutting-edge research in different aspects and areas of processable electronics. CDT research includes synthesising new materials for organic photovoltaics, multiscale modelling of materials, photophysics and device performance and the fabrication and testing of high-performance thin film transistors and circuits.