Organic electronics opens the door to entirely new electronic products including flexible displays and solar cells and medical sensors that are integrated into clothing or even stick to the skin. OLEDs (organic light-emitting diodes) are already in use for smartphone displays. “TIDE is studying how molecular order influences component behavior. In the first funding phase we established a close connection between experiment and theory. Now in the second phase the focus will be on component implementation,” said speaker Professor Klaus Meerholz of the University of Cologne.
In addition to receiving training in Cologne and Bonn, doctoral students can also do an international research stay. Advanced chemistry and physics are taught as part of the training from a standpoint of materials science. Core elements of the training include a series of joint lectures by all expert members of the TIDE network and the certified Bench-to-Business (B2B) program, where students acquire basic business management knowledge to facilitate their transitioning from basic research at university to doing applied research in their subsequent careers.
“We are greatly pleased that our multidisciplinary research and training programs will be receiving further funding so we can continue training graduates who in addition to having become experts in their respective research fields are also well-versed in related disciplines and relevant business/market considerations,” commented Professor Arne Lützen of the University of Bonn, who is also a steering committee member of the Matter Transdisciplinary Research Area. Graduates were thus optimally prepared, he elaborated, to meet challenges arising in the OE industry and similar areas of materials science.