After a general day of introduction into the subject, the team of students are split into several groups where each group work with one material: electroactive polymers, electroluminescence, dye-sensitized solar cells and bioplastics. Every team work independently, experimenting with their material and improving their skills.
Electroactive Polymers are polymers that exhibit a change in size or shape when stimulated by an electric field. The most common applications of this type of material are in actuators and sensors. A typical characteristic property of an EAP is that they will undergo a large amount of deformation while sustaining large forces.
Electroluminescence is an optical and electrical phenomenon in which a material emits light in response to the passage of an electric current or to a strong electric field.
Bioplastics are a form of plastics derived from renewable biomass sources, such as vegetable fats and oils, corn starch, pea starch, or microbiota, rather than fossil-fuel plastics which are derived from petroleum.
Dye-sensitized Solar Cells are low-cost solar cells belonging to the group of thin film solar cells. They are based on a semiconductor formed between a photo-sensitized anode and an electrolyte, a photo electrochemical system.
