An award-winning invention that could make cellphones, hand-held computers and other electronic devices lighter came to life in a University of Ottawa lab.
Matthew Heuft is an organic chemist, who received his PhD in chemistry from the University of Ottawa. He developed a family of chemical compounds that will enable companies to manufacture thinner, lighter-weight screens used in electronic devices.
Heuft won the first $10,000 NSERC Innovation Challenge Award for Science and Engineering in late October. His invention, for which he has a patent pending, is expected to make a major impact on the organic electronics market.
Both the National Research Council and 3M Canada are testing the performance of the compounds and their semiconducting properties for electronics. The compounds will also be tested for use in solar cells, or light harvest devices, which convert solar energy into electrical energy.
