Henning Sirringhaus holds the prestigious Hitachi Professorship of Electron Device Physics at the Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, where he has been conducting groundbreaking research since 1997. As a Fellow of the Royal Society since 2009 and recipient of a Royal Society Research Professorship in 2020, he has established himself as a preeminent leader in the field of organic electronics. Sirringhaus received his undergraduate and PhD degrees in physics from ETH Zürich before completing postdoctoral research at Princeton University from 1995 to 1996. His academic journey has been marked by a consistent focus on advancing the fundamental understanding of electronic materials while maintaining strong connections to practical applications. In addition to his professorship, he serves as Head of the Microelectronics Group and is a Fellow of Churchill College at Cambridge, demonstrating his multifaceted contributions to the university community.
Sirringhaus is internationally renowned for his transformative work on charge transport in organic semiconductors, which has fundamentally reshaped the field from scientific curiosity to commercially viable technology. His pioneering insights into the polaronic nature of electron states and interfacial structure control have dramatically increased field-effect carrier mobility in organic transistors, enabling practical applications. The development of novel processing methods, including ink-jet printing of organic semiconductor devices, has revolutionized manufacturing approaches for flexible electronics and earned him the Royal Society's Hughes Medal in 2013. His realization of the light-emitting field-effect transistor represents a significant technical achievement that has opened new pathways for optoelectronic applications. These contributions have been instrumental in advancing organic electronics from laboratory curiosity to commercial reality, with profound implications for flexible displays, sensors, and printable electronics.
Beyond his academic research, Sirringhaus has successfully bridged the gap between fundamental science and commercial application as co-founder and Chief Scientist of Plastic Logic/FlexEnable, which commercializes organic transistor technology. His work has influenced not only academic research directions but also industrial approaches to flexible electronics manufacturing, contributing significantly to the UK's technological innovation landscape. As a dedicated mentor, he leads an active research group with over 30 members including PhD students and postdoctoral researchers, fostering the next generation of materials scientists and device physicists. Currently, his research focuses on expanding the applications of organic and hybrid semiconductors into energy devices, particularly thermoelectric waste heat conversion, where the unique physics of molecular materials offers novel approaches for harvesting thermal energy. Sirringhaus continues to push the boundaries of what's possible with organic semiconductors, maintaining his position at the forefront of materials science innovation with his characteristic blend of fundamental insight and practical application.
