Dr. Eleni Pavlopoulou is Assistant Researcher (Researcher, grade C) at the Institute of Electronic Structure and Laser, of the Foundation for Research and Technology – Hellas. She studied Physics in the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, and received a M.Sc. in Materials Physics from the same University. She holds a Ph.D. in Polymer Physics from the University of Crete, Greece. After completing her doctoral studies, she moved to Princeton University, USA, and the group of Prof. Y.-L. (Lynn) Loo where she was introduced in Organic Electronics. In 2011, she returned to Europe and joined the Laboratoire de Chimie des Polymères Organiques (LCPO) and the group of Prof. Hadziioannou in Bordeaux, France, holding a Marie Curie Individual Fellowship. Between September 2013 and August 2020 she was an Assistant Professor (Maître de Conférences) at the École Nationale Supérieure de Chimie, de Biologie et de Physique (ENSCBP) of the Institut Polytechnique de Bordeaux (Bordeaux INP), carrying out her research in LCPO. She joined IESL-FORTH on September 2020, where she is leading the Polymer Electronics Laboratory. 

Eleni's research focuses on the study of electrically active polymers for energy harvesting and bioelectronic applications. She has a long-standing experience in conducting, semi-conducting and ferroelectric/piezoelectric polymers, with an emphasis on the study of their processing-structure-function relationships. She is particularly recognized for her expertise on the structural characterizations of polymeric thin films and nanostructures by means of x-ray scattering (SAXS, WAXS, GIWAXS, GISAXS), and she is a regular visiting scientist at the ESRF and ALBA synchrotrons. She has hands-on experience in organic electronics device fabrication and performance characterizations.

Education

• 2021 - Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches, Université de Bordeaux, France
• 2009 - PhD in Materials Science and Technology, University of Crete, Greece
• 2004 - MSc in Materials Physics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
• 2002 - Bachelor in Physics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece

Career

• 09/2020 - to date: Researcher at IESL-FORTH, Heraklion, Greece
• 09/2013 - 08/2020: Assistant Professor at ENSCBP - Bordeaux INP, Bordeaux, France
• 09/2011 - 08/2013: Marie Curie Post-doctoral Fellow at LCPO, Bordeaux, France
• 03/2010 - 07/2011: Post-doctoral Fellow at Princeton University, USA

Interests

• Conducting and Semiconducting Polymers
• Ferroelectric and Piezoelectric Polymers
• Organic Mixed Ionic-Electronic Conductors
• Polymer Electronics (photovoltaics, thermoelectrics, sensors)
• Bioelectronics
• Structure-Function Relationships
• X-ray Scattering (WAXS, SAXS, GIS)

Awards/Prizes/Distinctions

• 2021 - "Materials Horizons 2021 Outstanding Paper" Award. For the work on biohybrid plants with electronic routes, reported in Materials Horizons, 8, pp. 3295-3305 (2021)
• 2021 - Invited to the 2nd round of the ERC Consolidator Grants call
• 2013 - “La Recherche” Award, 10th edition, category Chemistry. For the work on the copolymer-based solar cells that is reported in Adv. Mater., 24(16), pp. 2196 - 2201 (2012)
• 2011 - Marie Curie Actions, Intra-European Fellowship – FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IEF
• 2007 - Best oral presentation award in the XXIII Panhellenic Conference on Solid State Physics & Materials Science