Polymer Sensors Highlighted in Chemistry World

9th May 2012

Our research on novel polymer laser sensors for explosive vapours has been highlighted in this month's Royal Society of Chemistry publication, Chemistry World:


• Read the Article: Chemistry World - Sniffing out Explosives

• Listen to the Podcast

Our research team, Yue Wang, Graham Turnbull and Ifor Samuel, use miniature plastic lasers for detecting TNT-like molecules. By using laser light from the polymer rather than fluorescence it is possible to increase the sensitivity and detection speed of the sensing process.

Within the EPSRC-funded HYPIX project we are developing LED-pumped polymer lasers, which offer the potential for very compact sensors. In collaboration with Neil McKeown at the University of Cardiff, our team has also explored the use of microporous polymers to allow the explosive molecules to quickly penetrate through the light-emitting film to rapidly quench the laser emission. Recent work also includes the application of a compact lifetime microsystem for explosives detection, which was reported in AIP Advances.

Currently all of the work in HYPIX is at the laboratory proof of principle stage. Aspects of the work are now being developed by our team for applications in humanitarian demining, within a large European Project TIRAMISU (Toolbox Implementation for Removal of Anti-personnel Mines, Submunitions and UXO).

OSO Part of New Structured Light Grant

12th April 2012

The Organic Semiconductor Optoelctronics group is part of a new £5.6 million grant that has been awarded by EPSRC. The grant, awarded jointly with the groups of Thomas Krauss and Kishan Dholakia, will investigate structured light and its applications in biological systems, looking at light generation, interactions and propagation in biological tissue and skin. The OSO will bring its experience in organic semiconductors as light sources as well as our work on light propagation in tissue to the project.

OSO at the Fife Science Festival

11th March 2012

On the 10th of March the doors of the physics department were flung open for the Fife Science Festival, and hundreds of children and their families got to try their hand at being scientists for the day. The Organic Semiconductor Centre had a stand at the event where children could try detecting explosives using fluorescence quenching. The experiment proved to be a one of the big hits of the day, enthusing young scientists and giving their parents an insight into one of the many uses of organic semiconductors. The explosive detection work is being developed towards humanitarian demining as part of the EC supported TIRAMISU project. Other applications of organic semiconductors include plastic solar cells, flexible displays and a wearable light for skin cancer treatment.

Explosive Sensing Interviews

13th December 2011

Ifor Samuel has been interviewed by AIP Advances about our group's work on explosive sensing which has recently been published by the journal. A podcast of the full interview is available from the AIP Advances Feature Page. Graham Turnbull was also interviewed about the work and his comments appear in this month's Laser Focus World.

SPIE Lecture

2nd November 2011

Ifor Samuel delivered a plenary lecture at SPIE 2011 Optics + Photonics Solar and OLEDs in San Diego in August entitled "Emerging Applications of Organic Optoelectronics". In the talk two aspects of our work were covered - organic lasers for explosive detection and the use of OLEDs in the treatment of skin cancer. The lecture is available to watch on the SPIE website.

Fantastic Plastics

30th September 2011

Alex Ward has been talking about the fantastic plastics that we study at a public outreach day at the National Museum of Scotland. The talk, aimed at primary school kids, journeyed through the role that plastics have in our daily lives and how we are able to use them to make organic solar cells. A video of the talk is available to download, with filming and production courtesy of Thomas Scheler.

Rank Prize Win

20th September 2011

Yue Wang recently attended the Rank Prize symposium on optoelectronics. Presenting her recent results on organic lasers and their use as explosive sensors, Yue's excellent work was recognised with the awarding of the best abstract and presentation prize in the young scientist category. Congratulations to Yue.

Explosive Detection Work Highlighted

19th August 2011

Our work on explosive sensing has again attracted the attention of news organisations. Our recently published paper in AIP Advances, entitled "Ultra-portable explosives sensor based on a CMOS florescence lifetime analysis micro-system" has been promoted by AIP as a news highlight. The work has subsequently been featured on ScienceDaily amongst other news websites. The paper describes methods to detect trace explosive vapours by measuring the light emitted from a polymer with a compact piece of portable equipment.

Jack Levell Passes Viva

8th July 2011

Dr Jack Levell has passed his PhD viva. His thesis was entitled: "Material and Device Design for Organic Optoelectronics". Dr Levell has just started working at The Holst Centre in Eindhoven, researching organic semiconducting devices. Jack is pictured here having just been dropped in a rather large amount of green water after passing his viva - a special page has been setup to document the great event. Congratulations to Jack.

Organic Semiconductor Centre Welcomes Leading Solar Cell Researchers

28th March 2011

The Organic Semiconductor Centre is this week involved in the SU2P Symposium that is being organised here in St Andrews. A collaboration between leading Scottish and US institutions, SU2P helps to deliver a disruptive new approach to business engagement and photonics research. A full session has been organised on photovoltaic research and applications, chaired by Prof. Samuel.

New International Energy Collaborations

18th March 2011

Our group is beginning two new international collaborations in the field of organic solar cells. In the first we will team up with Dr Graeme Cooke at the University of Glasgow and Prof. Vince Rotello at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, investigating novel chemical systems for organic solar cells. In the second we will work with Prof. Joachim Loos at the University of Glasgow and Prof. Xiaoniu Yang of the Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry (CIAC) at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and will investigate the ageing behaviour of organic solar cells.

National Science Week

13th March 2011

On Saturday our group, as part of an active series of public outreach activities, took part in the Science Discovery Day in the Physics department here in St Andrews. Forming a major component of the Fife Science Festival this event attracted over 500 visitors, ranging from under 8 months to over 80 years, who came to the physics department to partake in a series of hands-on science experiments and activities. We hosted a hugely popular workshop on making Dye Sensitized Gratzel solar cells using tea and turmeric as the active medium. In addition we ran a series of hands-on demonstrations on organic fluorescence, OLED devices and optical illusions. By the end of the day future scientists between the ages of 5 and 15 had put together dozens of solar cells and a non-stop stream of enthusiastic visitors had experienced directly the type of research carried out by our group and had new knowledge of the benefits and advantages of a range of cutting edge organic optoelectronic technologies.

Paper Makes Top 20 List

23rd February 2011

One of our papers, "Effect of metal cathode reflectance on the exciton-dissociation efficiency in heterojunction organic solar cells", has made the top 20 download list for 2010 in Applied Physics Letters. This work (doi:10.1063/1.3098472) is also available as a pdf here on our group website.