Dr. Ulrike Kraft

Ulrike Kraft is head of the Independent Organic Bioelectronics Research Group within the Lise Meitner Excellence Program.

She obtained a diploma in Applied Natural Sciences and a PhD degree in Chemistry. from the Technical University of Freiberg. In her PhD work in the Organic Electronics Research Group of Hagen Klauk at the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research in Stuttgart, she studied low-voltage, organic thin-film transistors and circuits on plastic and paper substrates for applications in portable and bendable displays. Another key aspect of her dissertation was the organic synthesis of multifunctional organic electronic materials. For this purpose, she visited the group of John E. Anthony (University of Lexington, KY; USA) for several months.

In her postdoctoral research at the Stanford University, USA (groups of Boris Murmann EE and Zhenan Bao ChemE), which was funded by a Feodor-Lynen Research Fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt foundation, she studied and developed intrinsically stretchable electronic materials, devices and circuits for wearable applications such as on-skin sensors for health monitoring.

She continued her research on organic electronic devices as a senior postdoctoral researcher in the group of Henning Sirringhaus, in the Cavendish Laboratory (Physics) at the University of Cambridge, UK investigating the operational and environmental stability of polymer transistors for flexible display applications. In 2019 Dr. Ulrike Kraft was awarded a Minerva Fast Track fellowship from the Max Planck Society and joined the department of Molecular Electronics at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research as a group leader in 2020. Since 2020 she is a fellow of the Elisabeth-Schiemann-Kolleg of the Max Planck Society.

Since fall 2022, Ulrike Kraft is heading the Independent Research Group “Organic Bioelectronics” supported by the Lise Meitner Excellence Program of the Max Planck Society.

Research Interests

At the interface between chemistry, physics and material science, we are interested in organic electronic and hybrid materials such as semiconducting and conducting polymers and organic small molecules and their application in electronic devices such as field-effect transistors and electrochemical transistors. Furthermore, we are interested in understanding structure-property relationships and charge transport in these materials in conjunction with a variety of organic electronic and ionic applications such as flexible and stretchable (bio) sensors. Due to their printability, mechanical flexibility and low Young's modulus that is in compliance with biological tissues these devices offer the potential of revolutionizing personalized medicine and health monitoring.

Functional additives (e.g. plasticizers, stabilizers, dopants, molecular switches) can enhance the performance and stability of polymer devices or induce additional functionality. We want to study the underlying mechanisms by combining device characterization with chemical analysis.

Furthermore, it is our aim to characterize and improve environmentally friendly and biodegradable electronics for sustainable applications.

Publications