Elvira Fortunato

Elvira Fortunato OIDH (born 22 July, 1964 in Almada) is a Portuguese scientist. She is a full professor in the Materials Science Department at the NOVA University of Lisbon (FCT-UNL). Fortunato is a scientist and innovator in the field of paper electronics, including transistors, memories, sensors, batteries, displays, antennas and solar cells.[1][2][3]

Elvira Fortunato
Born (1964-07-22) 22 July 1964
NationalityPortuguese
OrganizationNOVA School of Science and Technology
Known forInventor of the paper transistor
AwardsBlaise Pascal Medal (2016) Czochralski Medal (2017)

Education

Fortunato received her Engineering Diploma in Materials Science and Physics in 1987 from the FCT-UNL and continued her graduate studies in the same university. In 1991 Fortunato received her Master's degree in Semiconductor Materials and in 1995 her Ph.D. in Microelectronics and Optoelectronics. In 2005 Fortunato obtained her habilitation in the same field.[4]

Career

After her Ph.D., Fortunato was offered the position of assistant professor in 1995 at the NOVA University of Lisbon. In 1998 Fortunato was promoted to associate professor and since then has been the director of the Materials Research Center (CENIMAT) of the Associate Laboratoryi3N, the Institute of Nanostructures, Nanomodeling, and Nanofabrication. At the CENIMAT Fortunato lead the research team which has been distinguished for the discovery of the paper transistor. In 2012, she was made a full professor at the FCT-UNL and since 2017, Fortunato is the vice-rector at NOVA University.

Fortunato is an elected member of Academy of Engineering (2008), European Academy of Sciences (2016), Lisbon Academy of Sciences (2018) and Academia Europaea (2018).[5] She belongs to the Board of Trustees of the Luso-American Development Foundation (2014). Fortunato is Associate Editor of Rapid Research Letters Physica Status Solidi since 2006 (Wiley), Co-Editor of Europhysics Letters since 2011 and is an Editorial Advisory Board Member of ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces (since 2020).[4][6]

Research

Fortunato's research focuses on exploring new electronic active materials that are environmentally friendly and compatible with flexible electronics. This led to the invention of the first paper transistor in 2008[7][8], which used paper, a low-cost and flexible biopolymer, as the insulator layer (gate dielectric) of a thin-film transistor, replacing the commonly used Silicon. Fortunato's research includes transparent and paper electronics; electrochemical devices and biosensors and microfluidics. Her research includes the development of new materials and processes for conventional thin film technology, with a focus on exploiting the materials’ performances at a nanoscale. Applications for these devices include the electronics and optoelectronics industry. She pioneered European research on transparent electronics, namely thin-film transistors based on oxide semiconductors, demonstrating that oxide materials can be used as true semiconductors.[9] [10]

Paper Electronics

Paper electronics consists of substituting the components of a transistor, e.g. silicon or other inorganic materials, commonly used as the insulating component, by cellulose, i.e. paper. This makes the chips inexpensive, recyclable and environmentally friendly. The idea is to print the components on a flexible paper surface and additionally use the cellulose as the dielectric layer of the transistor, i.e. its insulating component. This way, the paper does not only serve as the substrate but also integrated as a functional part of the device. Although paper electronics might not replace all the silicon technology from today, this technology can be added to existing technologies and is suitable for low-cost and large scale applications. Further scientific applications include biosensors, radiofrequency identification (RFID) tags in shipping and product inventory management [7][11]

Honors and Awards

2019

• Distinguished at the II Semmais Gala with the Personality of the Year Award;

• 3rd Edition of the Almada City Council in the Science and Technology category - Honorable Mention.

2018

• Received the second ERC (European Research Council), worth € 3.5 million, the largest grant ever awarded to a Portuguese researcher and the highest award awarded by the ERC in this Call; The project is entitled "Multifunctional Digital Materials Platform for Smart Integrated Applications | DIGISMART".

• LUX Annual "Female Personalities" 2018 Award

2017

• Czochralski 2017 award in recognition of her research work in the area of Advanced Materials Science by the Polish Academy of Sciences in conjunction with the European Society for Research on Materials (E-MRS), the Polish Society of Materials Science and the Polish Crystal Growth Society.

2016

• Innovation INCM award by the work Secret paper – an innovative, low-cost approach;

•    Blaise Pascal Medal by the European Academy of Sciences in the area of Materials Science;

•    Finalist for the European Inventor Award 2016 with Prof. Rodrigo Martins with the work on paper electronics.

2015

•    Selected by the Portuguese President of Republic to be the President of the National Day (10 June) with the duty to speak about Science, Innovation, and New Opportunities.

2014

•    Gold Medal from the Municipality of Alcanena/Portugal; Honourable Mention in the area of Research by FCT-UNL/Portugal; Honourable Mention in the area of Extension by FCT-UNL/Portugal.

2012

•    Scientific Prize of City of Almada, 1st edition/Portugal; Prize Green Awards, Lab-on-Paper/Portugal; Prize Innovation with the work solar tiles, Energy Live Expo, Lisbon/Portugal.

2011

•    Nominated Körber European Science Award 2011 (short list 8), Koerber Foundation/Germany.

2010

•    Order of “Infante D. Henrique", attributed by the President of the Portuguese Republic/Portugal;

•    Gold Mercury Sustainability Personality of the Year/Italy.

2009

•    The Research and Technology 2008-09 award, from the Rotary 1960 District/Portugal;

•    1st place in “Green Awards 2009” for the paper transistor work;

•   EU Women Inventors & Innovators Network: Transparent Electronics and Paper-e/Finland;

•    Doctor Honoris Causa by Galati University/Romania;

•    IDTechEx Printed Electronics USA 2009 Academic R&D award/USA.

2008

•    Prize “Seeds of Science” in the field of Science and Engineering/Portugal.

[12][6][13]

References
  1. "Short CV Elvira Fortunato" (PDF). European Commission. Retrieved May 10, 2020.
  2. Das, Narottam, ed. (February 22, 2017). Nanostructured Solar Cells. InTech. doi:10.5772/62516. ISBN 978-953-51-2935-6.
  3. "Elvira MC Fortunato's Publons profile". publons.com. Retrieved May 10, 2020.
  4. "Elvira Fortunato | CENIMAT". www.cenimat.fct.unl.pt. Retrieved May 10, 2020.
  5. "Elvira Fortunato". Academia Europaea. Archived from the original on May 21, 2020.
  6. ORCID. "Elvira Fortunato (0000-0002-4202-7047)". orcid.org. Retrieved May 10, 2020.
  7. Martins, Rodrigo; Barquinha, Pedro; Pereira, Luís; Correia, Nuno; Gonçalves, Gonçalo; Ferreira, Isabel; Fortunato, Elvira (November 17, 2008). "Write-erase and read paper memory transistor". Applied Physics Letters. 93 (20): 203501. doi:10.1063/1.3030873. hdl:10362/3962. ISSN 0003-6951.
  8. "Full Page Reload". IEEE Spectrum: Technology, Engineering, and Science News. Retrieved May 20, 2020.
  9. "Research | CENIMAT". www.cenimat.fct.unl.pt. Retrieved May 10, 2020.
  10. "Research activities | Elvira Fortunato". docentes.fct.unl.pt. Retrieved May 11, 2020.
  11. News, Advanced Science (May 13, 2016). "Microchips made of paper: Elvira Fortunato and Rodrigo Martins named European Inventor Award 2016 finalists". Advanced Science News. Retrieved May 11, 2020.
  12. "Recent Awards | Elvira Fortunato". docentes.fct.unl.pt. Retrieved May 11, 2020.
  13. "Elvira Fortunato - Women Economic Forum (WEF)". WEF. Retrieved May 11, 2020.
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