Donal Bradley
Encyclopedia
Donal Donat Conor Bradley, CBE, FRS, FRSA, is Lee-Lucas Professor of Experimental Physics at Imperial College London
. He is director of the Centre for Plastic Electronics and from October 2011 will also be a pro rector at the college.
Bradley is known for his contributions to the development of molecular electronic materials and devices. Plastic or Printed Electronics, as this technology is widely known, embodies a paradigm shift towards low temperature, solution-based device fabrication with applications in energy efficient displays and lighting, photovoltaic energy generation and medical diagnostics. His experimental investigations have significantly advanced the understanding of the physics of conjugated polymers as semiconductors and helped to demonstrate their widespread application potential.
(The College of the Sacred Heart Wimbledon) in the London Borough of Merton
.
He studied as an undergraduate student (BSc Physics) at Imperial College London
between 1980 and 1983 and obtained a first class honours degree. He was awarded the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce Silver Medal and fellowship (FRSA) as an outstanding graduate of the Royal College of Science
and served in his second year as the Royal College of Science Union Departmental Representative for Physics.
Bradley’s postgraduate research was undertaken in the Physics and Chemistry of Solids Group at the Cavendish Laboratory
, University of Cambridge
and he received a PhD in 1987 for his thesis “Spectroscopic investigations of the processible conjugated polymers poly(p-phenylene vinylene)
and poly(4,4'-diphenylenediphenylvinylene)”.
before being simultaneously awarded the Unilever Research Fellowship in Chemical Physics at Corpus Christi College Cambridge and a Toshiba Research Fellowship to work at the Toshiba Corporation Research and Development Center’s Chemical Laboratory in Kawasaki, Japan.
On returning to Corpus Christi College, after a year spent in Japan studying the nonlinear optical properties of poly(arylenevinylene) polymers, he played a central role in the February 1989 discovery of conjugated polymer electroluminescence, suggesting the experiment that led to Dr Jeremy Henley Burroughes’ first observation of light emission. Together with Jeremy Burroughes he undertook the initial characterization of the basic properties of poly(p-phenylenevinylene)
light emitting diodes, demonstrating that the light emission phenomenon was injection electroluminescence and that the frequency response was sufficiently fast to permit video display applications.
Recognizing the importance of their discovery Bradley and Burroughes decided that it should be patented and together with Richard Friend
filed a GB patent (PCT/GB90.00584) with first claim:
Bradley was the corresponding author for the subsequent 1990 Nature paper reporting the discovery of conjugated polymer electroluminescence. This paper rapidly became the most highly cited paper in the field of molecular electronic materials and devices - a position that it holds to this day - and it triggered an explosion of activity around the world, thereby launching the new field of plastic electronics.
Bradley is an Institute for Scientific Information
highly cited author in both Materials Science and Physics with 500 papers published to date. His h-index is currently 75 and his papers have been cited a combined total of more than 33,500 times.
on “Plastic Electronics: their science and applications” in March 2010.
In December 2009 he delivered the Institute of Physics
Mott Lecture on “Plastic Electronics - The Science and Application of Molecular Electronic Materials and Devices” .
In November of the same year he delivered the Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Chau Wai-yin Memorial Lecture “Twenty Years of Plastic Electronics - The Science and Application of Molecular Electronic Materials” and in October the University of Liverpool
Frolich Lecture “The Science and Application of Molecular Electronic Materials and Devices”.
In 2005 Bradley delivered the Institute of Physics
Ireland Lecture Series (at Trinity College, Dublin
, University College Cork and University College Galway
) “Organic Electronics: A Molecular Vision” and in 2004 the Weissberger-Williams Lecture (same title) at the Eastman Kodak
Company’s R&D Laboratories in Rochester, New York, USA.
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2004 and a fellow of the Institute of Physics in 2005.
In the 2009/2010 New Years Honours he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to science.
Ranked by the Institute for Scientific Information as one of the top 100 materials scientists in the world on the basis of the impact (citations per paper) of journal papers published in the decade 2000-2010.
Imperial College London
Imperial College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom, specialising in science, engineering, business and medicine...
. He is director of the Centre for Plastic Electronics and from October 2011 will also be a pro rector at the college.
Bradley is known for his contributions to the development of molecular electronic materials and devices. Plastic or Printed Electronics, as this technology is widely known, embodies a paradigm shift towards low temperature, solution-based device fabrication with applications in energy efficient displays and lighting, photovoltaic energy generation and medical diagnostics. His experimental investigations have significantly advanced the understanding of the physics of conjugated polymers as semiconductors and helped to demonstrate their widespread application potential.
Education
Bradley was a pupil and latterly Head Boy at Wimbledon CollegeWimbledon College
Wimbledon College is a government-maintained voluntary-aided Jesuit Roman Catholic high school for boys aged 11 to 19. The school is based at Edge Hill, Wimbledon, London. It was founded in 1892 "for improvement in living and learning to the greater glory of God and the common good"...
(The College of the Sacred Heart Wimbledon) in the London Borough of Merton
London Borough of Merton
The London Borough of Merton is a borough in southwest London, England.The borough was formed under the London Government Act in 1965 by the merger of the Municipal Borough of Mitcham, the Municipal Borough of Wimbledon and the Merton and Morden Urban District, all formerly within Surrey...
.
He studied as an undergraduate student (BSc Physics) at Imperial College London
Imperial College London
Imperial College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom, specialising in science, engineering, business and medicine...
between 1980 and 1983 and obtained a first class honours degree. He was awarded the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce Silver Medal and fellowship (FRSA) as an outstanding graduate of the Royal College of Science
Royal College of Science
The Royal College of Science was a higher education institution located in South Kensington; it was a constituent college of Imperial College London from 1907 until it was wholly absorbed by Imperial in 2002. Alumni include H. G. Wells and Brian May and are distinguishable by the letters ARCS ...
and served in his second year as the Royal College of Science Union Departmental Representative for Physics.
Bradley’s postgraduate research was undertaken in the Physics and Chemistry of Solids Group at the Cavendish Laboratory
Cavendish Laboratory
The Cavendish Laboratory is the Department of Physics at the University of Cambridge, and is part of the university's School of Physical Sciences. It was opened in 1874 as a teaching laboratory....
, University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
and he received a PhD in 1987 for his thesis “Spectroscopic investigations of the processible conjugated polymers poly(p-phenylene vinylene)
Poly(p-phenylene vinylene)
Poly is a conducting polymer of the rigid-rod polymer host family.PPV is the only polymer of this type that has so far been successfully processed into a highly ordered crystalline thin film. PPV and its derivatives are conducting polymers of rigid-rod polymer family...
and poly(4,4'-diphenylenediphenylvinylene)”.
Career
After completing his PhD he was briefly a postdoctoral research associate funded by British PetroleumBP
BP p.l.c. is a global oil and gas company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest energy company and fourth-largest company in the world measured by revenues and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors"...
before being simultaneously awarded the Unilever Research Fellowship in Chemical Physics at Corpus Christi College Cambridge and a Toshiba Research Fellowship to work at the Toshiba Corporation Research and Development Center’s Chemical Laboratory in Kawasaki, Japan.
On returning to Corpus Christi College, after a year spent in Japan studying the nonlinear optical properties of poly(arylenevinylene) polymers, he played a central role in the February 1989 discovery of conjugated polymer electroluminescence, suggesting the experiment that led to Dr Jeremy Henley Burroughes’ first observation of light emission. Together with Jeremy Burroughes he undertook the initial characterization of the basic properties of poly(p-phenylenevinylene)
Poly(p-phenylene vinylene)
Poly is a conducting polymer of the rigid-rod polymer host family.PPV is the only polymer of this type that has so far been successfully processed into a highly ordered crystalline thin film. PPV and its derivatives are conducting polymers of rigid-rod polymer family...
light emitting diodes, demonstrating that the light emission phenomenon was injection electroluminescence and that the frequency response was sufficiently fast to permit video display applications.
Recognizing the importance of their discovery Bradley and Burroughes decided that it should be patented and together with Richard Friend
Richard Friend
Sir Richard Henry Friend FRS is Cavendish Professor at the University of Cambridge and Tan Chin Tuan Centennial Professor at the National University of Singapore. He is a fellow of St John's College...
filed a GB patent (PCT/GB90.00584) with first claim:
An electroluminescent device comprising a semiconductor layer in the form of a thin dense polymer film comprising at least one conjugated polymer;
a first contact layer which is selected so that on application of an electric field to said device charge carriers of a first type are injected into the semiconductor layer; and a second contact layer which is selected so that on application of an electric field to said device charge carriers of a second type are injected into the semiconductor layers, wherein the polymer film of the semiconductor layer has sufficiently low concentration of extrinsic charge carriers that on applying an electric field between the first and second contact layers across the semiconductor layer as to render the second contact layer positive relative to the first contact layer charge carriers of said first and second types are injected into the semiconductor layer and combine to form in the conjugated polymer charge carrier pairs which decay radiatively so that radiation is emitted from the conjugated polymer.
Bradley was the corresponding author for the subsequent 1990 Nature paper reporting the discovery of conjugated polymer electroluminescence. This paper rapidly became the most highly cited paper in the field of molecular electronic materials and devices - a position that it holds to this day - and it triggered an explosion of activity around the world, thereby launching the new field of plastic electronics.
Bradley is an Institute for Scientific Information
Institute for Scientific Information
The Institute for Scientific Information was founded by Eugene Garfield in 1960. It was acquired by Thomson Scientific & Healthcare in 1992, became known as Thomson ISI and now is part of the Healthcare & Science business of the multi-billion dollar Thomson Reuters Corporation.ISI offered...
highly cited author in both Materials Science and Physics with 500 papers published to date. His h-index is currently 75 and his papers have been cited a combined total of more than 33,500 times.
Named Lectures
Bradley delivered the Royal Society Bakerian LectureBakerian Lecture
The Bakerian Lecture is a prize lecture of the Royal Society, a lecture on physical sciences.In 1775 Henry Baker left £100 for a spoken lecture by a Fellow on such part of natural history or experimental philosophy as the Society shall determine....
on “Plastic Electronics: their science and applications” in March 2010.
In December 2009 he delivered the Institute of Physics
Institute of Physics
The Institute of Physics is a scientific charity devoted to increasing the practice, understanding and application of physics. It has a worldwide membership of around 40,000....
Mott Lecture on “Plastic Electronics - The Science and Application of Molecular Electronic Materials and Devices” .
In November of the same year he delivered the Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Hong Kong Polytechnic University
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University specialises in professional education in Hong Kong. The University’s teaching units are grouped under six faculties and two schools; the Faculty of Applied Science and Textiles, Faculty of Business, Faculty of Construction and Environment, Faculty of...
Chau Wai-yin Memorial Lecture “Twenty Years of Plastic Electronics - The Science and Application of Molecular Electronic Materials” and in October the University of Liverpool
University of Liverpool
The University of Liverpool is a teaching and research university in the city of Liverpool, England. It is a member of the Russell Group of large research-intensive universities and the N8 Group for research collaboration. Founded in 1881 , it is also one of the six original "red brick" civic...
Frolich Lecture “The Science and Application of Molecular Electronic Materials and Devices”.
In 2005 Bradley delivered the Institute of Physics
Institute of Physics
The Institute of Physics is a scientific charity devoted to increasing the practice, understanding and application of physics. It has a worldwide membership of around 40,000....
Ireland Lecture Series (at Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...
, University College Cork and University College Galway
National University of Ireland, Galway
The National University of Ireland, Galway is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland...
) “Organic Electronics: A Molecular Vision” and in 2004 the Weissberger-Williams Lecture (same title) at the Eastman Kodak
Eastman Kodak
Eastman Kodak Company is a multinational imaging and photographic equipment, materials and services company headquarted in Rochester, New York, United States. It was founded by George Eastman in 1892....
Company’s R&D Laboratories in Rochester, New York, USA.
Awards and Prizes
Bradley’s research has been recognized by- the Institution of Engineering and TechnologyInstitution of Engineering and TechnologyThe Institution of Engineering and Technology is a British professional body for those working in engineering and technology in the United Kingdom and worldwide. It was formed in 2006 from two separate institutions: the Institution of Electrical Engineers , dating back to 1871, and the...
Faraday Medal (2010),
- the Institute of PhysicsInstitute of PhysicsThe Institute of Physics is a scientific charity devoted to increasing the practice, understanding and application of physics. It has a worldwide membership of around 40,000....
Faraday Medal (2009),
- the Royal SocietyRoyal SocietyThe Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
Brian Mercer Award for Innovation (2007),
- the Imperial College LondonImperial College LondonImperial College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom, specialising in science, engineering, business and medicine...
Research Excellence Award (2006),
- the European Science FoundationEuropean Science FoundationThe European Science Foundation is an association of 78 member organisations devoted to scientific research in 30 European countries. It is an independent, non-governmental, non-profit organisation that facilitates cooperation and collaboration in European research and development, European...
European Latsis Prize for Nanoengineering (2005),
- the Society for Information DisplaySociety for Information DisplayThe Society for Information Display is an industry organization for displays, generally electronic displays such as televisions and computer monitors. SID was founded in 1962. Its main activities are publishing technical journals and running Display Week, its main conference, held in May each year...
Jan Rajchman Prize (2005),
- the European Union Descartes PrizeDescartes PrizeThe Descartes Prize is an annual award in science given by the European Union, named in honour of the French mathematician and philosopher, René Descartes....
(2003) for "Polymer Light-Emitting Diodes for displays (PLEDD)"
- and a Daiwa AwardDaiwa Adrian PrizeThis Daiwa Adrian Prize is an award given by The Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation to scientists who have made significant achievements in science through Anglo-Japanese collaborative research....
(1994).
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2004 and a fellow of the Institute of Physics in 2005.
In the 2009/2010 New Years Honours he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to science.
Other honours
Bradley has been ranked since 2002 by the Institute for Scientific Information as one of the 1% most highly cited physicists in the world for research published over the past two decades. Additionally he has been ranked since 2010 as one of the 1% most highly cited materials scientists in the world for research published over the past two decades.Ranked by the Institute for Scientific Information as one of the top 100 materials scientists in the world on the basis of the impact (citations per paper) of journal papers published in the decade 2000-2010.
Other activities
- 2008 - 2009 Specialist Adviser to the UK House of Commons Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills CommitteeInnovation, Universities, Science and Skills CommitteeThe Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills Select Committee was a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom...
Report on “Engineering: turning ideas into reality” - Member of Research Councils UKResearch Councils UKResearch Councils UK is a strategic partnership between the seven UK Research Councils. It enables the Councils to work together more effectively to enhance the overall impact and effectiveness of their research, training and innovation activities, contributing to the delivery of the Government's...
Review of UK Physics 2008 - Co-founder and Director of Molecular Vision Ltd
- Co-inventor of conjugated polymer electroluminescence (1989) and co-founder of Cambridge Display Technology Ltd (1992)
- Director of the Solar Press (UK) Ltd 2009
- Rank Prize Funds Optoelectronics Committee 2010
- Member of sub-panel 9: Physics for the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF) quality assessment exercise