Iain McCulloch (academic)

Iain McCulloch, born in Scotland, is Professor of Polymer Materials at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (since 2014) and has a chair in Polymer Materials in the Department of Chemistry at Imperial College London (since 2007).[1] He is affiliated with the Chemical Science Graduate Program in the Division of Physical Science and Engineering at KAUST where he is also the Director of the KAUST Solar Center (since 2016).

Professor Iain McCulloch

McCulloch studied Chemistry at the University of Strathclyde, he obtained his Bachelor of Science with First Class Honors in 1986 and a Ph.D. in Polymer Chemistry in 1989. He joined Imperial College London as a Professor of Polymer Chemistry in 2007, Department of Chemistry and was Head of Research Section in 2014. Prior to joining academia, McCulloch directed industrial research groups at Hoechst in the United States and Merck in the United Kingdom.

His industrial research interests focused on the design of functional polymers for a wide range of optical, electronic, photovoltaic, and bioelectronic applications. While at Merck, McCulloch was responsible for the design of novel semiconducting polymers for commercial use in thin-film transistor arrays.[2] His research helped solve the longstanding problem of semiconductor air stability in organic transistors [3] and resulted in step changes in electrical performance [4] A fundamental aspect of his research was in the control of molecular alignment and organisation within semiconducting polymer and small molecule thin films in their liquid crystalline phases, which led to an improved understanding of the relationships between self-assembly processes and charge transport properties of semiconducting units. This led to the discovery of a liquid-crystalline polythiophene,[5] which has served as a benchmark semiconductor for over a decade and has been used in fundamental research of the properties of organic field-effect transistors. His approach to control aliphatic side-chain interdigitation and the use of non-covalent interactions to facilitate highly ordered self-assembly from solution have been widely adopted.

Since moving to academia, he further advanced the understanding of charge transport in organic polymer thin films through exploring the role of backbone conformational restrictions on energetic disorder and charge carrier mobility.[6] In the field of organic solar cells, McCulloch elucidated new design strategies for electron-accepting semiconducting molecules [7] and [8] optimised for both light absorption and electron transport, which has led to significant advances in power conversion efficiencies [9] His approach focuses on controlled crystallisation through astute molecular functionality in precise locations on the molecule, combined with optimised electronic energy levels and wavefunction distribution. His recent research activities address the intersection of biology and electronics. He has developed molecular systems capable of directly translating biosignals into electronic information and vice versa, which is an appealing tool for understanding biological systems and developing biomedical devices. In particular, optical and electronic sensors are being developed [10] for the selective sensing in aqueous environments of ions and biologically important molecules such as lactate, glucose, and ions such as sodium, potassium and calcium. The focus of McCulloch's research is the development of polymers and semiconducting small molecules organic photovoltaic devises and high-performance organic field-effect transistors.