Smart Polymer Ferrotronic Materials for Environmental Monitoring and Energy Conversion – SMILE

The University of Bordeaux and four industrial partners - ARKEMA, ISORG, SURYS and VALEO - are joining forces to propose an industrial chair in the field of Printed Ferrotronics Engineering, i.e., the association of electronic and ferroelectric organic materials into dedicated applicative demonstrators. The SMILE (Smart Polymer Ferrotronic Materials for Environmental Monitoring and Energy Conversion) industrial chair will rely on a solid existing scientific expertise acquired in the field of materials science and engineering with a focus on polymeric materials for electronics, and will aim at answering critical tendencies and needs in autonomous sensing, environmental monitoring and smart actuations while providing innovative solutions through printing technologies and the use of organic materials for environmental concerns. Accordingly, the SMILE program will focus on the development of innovative, proprietary technologies that will be implemented in prototypes for selected applications prototypes (TRL4-TRL5) whileconducting fundamental engineering studies for the optimization of the materials performance and device fabrication processes. Adding value through the embedding of smart functions is critically answering the needs of the industrial partners, which aspire to develop innovative products in response to health, mobility, housing and security needs.