Flexible Devices Based on Metal Oxides: Achievements and Prospects

Flexible devices based on metal oxides: Achievements and prospects focuses on the integration of flexibility in electronic circuitry, sensing applications, energy conversion and storage, and environmental remediation. Flexibility in these applications offers great potential, especially in the areas of wearable sensors, solar cells, transistors, electronic skin, and human body monitoring. The book investigates flexible and wearable devices based on metal oxide nanostructures or thin films that are capable of bending, rolling, compression, and folding, all while maintaining their performance. Metal oxide nanomaterials display exceptional properties that include mechanical stress tolerance, high optical transparency, high carrier mobilities, wide band gap, high dielectric constant, and superconductivity, amongst others. In some cases, they are also earth abundant, environmentally benign, cost-effective, chemically stable, and compatible with low-cost wet-chemical synthesis routes. The focus of the book is on wearables manufactured using sustainable manufacturing methods and integrated into substrates that are flexible, inexpensive, recyclable, abundant, and lightweight, including polymer, textile, cellulose and cork substrates.

He has been involved in transparent electronics from 2004, covering all the areas from the design, deposition and characterization of conductive, semiconductive and insulating multicomponent oxides, fabrication and advanced characterization of oxide TFTs, to the intregation of these devices on electronic circuits (analog and digital) on flexible substrates. His work on this field contributed to take performance and integration levels of this technology to levels of great interest to the display industry.
He is co-author of 98 peer-reviewed papers, with more than 3800 citations. He co-authored 2 books and 2 book chapters on this area as well. He won important scientific prizes, such as the "Stimulus to research 2008" (Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation) and "Innovation Prize for Young Engineers 2008" (Portuguese Order of Engineers) and gave more than 30 invited lectures including 2 key-notes in international scientific conferences and workshops. He was program coordinator in ITC2012 conference and co-organizer of the 1st E-MRS/MRS-J Bilateral Symposia, "Materials Frontier for Transparent Advanced Electronics". Since 2004 he participated in more than 20 research and inovation projects, being currently principal investigator from FCT-UNL on two EU projects (FP7 i-FLEXIS and H2020 Roll-Out).

Prof. Manuel J. Mendes was born in Lisbon, in 1982. He received the Engineering degree in Physics in 2005 from Instituto Superior Técnico, Univ. de Lisboa (IST-UL), the Master of Science degree in Applied Physics in 2008 from Rice University (Houston, USA), and the Ph.D. in Photovoltaic Solar Energy in 2012 from Instituto de Energía Solar (Madrid, Spain) on the novel topic of Nanophotonics for Multi-Band Photovoltaics.

He has been involved in >35 projects in energy-related areas while working in USA (2005-08), Spain (2008-12), Italy (2012-14) and Portugal (2014-present). His research in Portugal has been performed at the Materials Research Center CENIMAT-i3N of NOVA School of Science & Technology (Univ. Nova de Lisboa), where he has been PI of 6 projects (3 national, 3 European) and institution responsible for other 6 projects (5 national, 1 European) related with Photonic-enhanced Solar Cells, Quantum-structured Semiconductors, Building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) and Solar Fuels. Overall, he attracted a total funding of 6 M to NOVA via projects that he coordinated.

He has acted as reviewer for >40 scientific journals, is author of >70 peer-reviewed publications, and co-inventor of 2 U.S. Patents. The first patent was distinguished with an award from NASA Inventions and Contributions Board, and the second opened a research line in plasmonic intermediate-band solar cells.

He has been awarded with 2 prestigious Marie Curie Experienced-Research Fellowships (in 2012 and 2014) related with light management for solar cells, as well as 10 prestigious scientific honours, such as the 2020 FEMS Communication Award for Excellence in Materials Science & Eng. and the 2021 IN3+ Award of Imprensa Nacional Casa da Moeda (INCM) - the highest national prize for individual innovation projects.

In 2023, an ERC Consolidator Grant was awarded to his project X-STREAM (Power-to-X: Streaming Hydrogen from 3-Band Solar Cells boosted with Photonic Management).

João Coelho is a researcher at NOVA School of Science and Technology (FCT NOVA), one of the three largest and most prestigious schools of Engineering and Sciences in Portugal. In 2007, he received his Bachelor degree in physics followed by a Master degree in 2009 (Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto). In 2016, he was awarded his PhD degree by Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. During this period, he became a materials scientist focused on the processing of 2D-materials for energy storage/conversion applications. Throughout this process, he developed crucial skills not only on materials synthesis and characterization, but in the design, fabrication and testing of supercapacitors and lithium-ion batteries. He had the chance to work with world renowned scientists and companies, such as Nokia Bell Labs and to participate in several international scientific meeting, such as MRS Spring and ECS Prime. These collaborations led to publications in high impact journals, namely Science and Nature, resulting a h-index of 19. Besides technical and scientific work, he is passionate about teaching and science outreach activities. Up to now, he has supervised several BSc, MSc and one PhD thesis.

In 2020, after being selected for the prestigious Individual Call to Scientific Employment Stimulus, he joined the Materials Research Center (CENIMAT) of the Associated Laboratory i3N, the Institute of Nanostructures, Nanomodeling and Nanofabrication (FCT NOVA). Currently, his research objectives are focused on the development and integration of flexible energy storage devices, produced by inkjet printing and laser engraving.