Yves Leterrier

EPFL STI IMX LPAC
MXG 141 (Bâtiment MXG)
Station 12
1015 Lausanne

Expertise

  • Sustainable materials and processes
  • Polymer composites, multilayer and hybrid materials
  • Photopolymerization and sol-gel processes
  • Mechanics of thin films on polymers
  • Roll-to-roll process methods

Expertise

  • Sustainable materials and processes
  • Polymer composites, multilayer and hybrid materials
  • Photopolymerization and sol-gel processes
  • Mechanics of thin films on polymers
  • Roll-to-roll process methods

Mission

Research: Functional multilayer and hybrid polymer composites
  • Integrative synthesis of organic-inorganic hybrids
  • Photopolymerization and sol-gel processes
  • Thin film multilayers and bioinspired surfaces
  • Diffusion-barrier coatings
  • Photo-hyphenated methods (rheology, calorimetry) and UV nanoimprint lithography
  • Electro-fragmentation & electro-fatigue in-situ in microscopes for mechanical analysis of thin films
  • Cost-effective roll-to-roll processes for flexible electronics and renewable energy applications
  • Author and co-author of more than 300 technical articles including 145 peer-reviewed journal papers and 60 invited lectures
Teaching: Sustainable materials and processes
  • Rheology (bachelor course)
  • Life cycle engineering of polymers (master course)
  • Recycling of materials (master course)
  • Photopolymerization science and technology (doctoral course with Politecnico di Torino)
  • Soft Microsystems Processing and Devices (doctoral course with EPFL colleagues)

Current work

Current projects
  • BioPack & Rethinking Food Packaging: Novel biobased packaging materials towards zero waste (project co-PI, Nestlé SA Fund)
  • FLEXCAN & Flexible encapsulation of active implants (project co-PI, InnoSuisse Fund)
  • 3DP4PEACE & Sustainable 3D Printing for Peace in Colombia (project co-PI, EPFL Tech4Dev Fund)
  • DuPrintProtect (project co-PI, Switzerland Strategic Focus Area (SFA) on Advanced Manufacturing)
Recent projects
  • XinoCaps & Xylylene-Inorganic High Barrier Encapsulation (project co-PI, InnoSuisse Fund)
  • UltraCeal & Ultra high barriers based on cellulose nanofibrils (project PI, InnoSuisse Eureka Fund)
  • Bioinspired self-cleaning surfaces for novel food packaging concepts (project PI, EPFL IFNC Fund)
  • SUNLITE & Colored Solar Tiles Based on Composite Structures for Cost-Effective Building Integrated Photovoltaics (project PI, InnoSuisse Fund)
  • Functionally graded polymer composites (project PI, SNF Fund)
  • REFLEX & Ultra-flexible lithium film batteries (project PI, InnoSuisse Fund)
  • Interfaces in fluorinated polymer composites (project co-PI, SNF Fund)
Yves Leterrier joined EPFL in 1993 and is a faculty member of the Materials Institute. He is a senior scientist and lecturer in the Laboratory for Processing of Advanced Composites (LPAC, previously Laboratory of Composite and Polymer Technology, LTC).
Activities
  • 2000-2005: Foundation and Chair of the Korea-Switzerland joint symposia on materials and micro-technologies
  • 2004-2008: Board member of FLEXIDIS (the European flexible display consortium)
  • 2004-2009: Group leader on lightweight materials for Solar Impulse
  • Since 2008: Board member of the French Adhesion Society
  • Since 2000: President of the EPFL Materials Science Library commission
  • Since 2012: Editorial board member, Applied Surface Science
  • Since 2014: Associate Editor, Frontiers in Materials
  • Since 2021: Coordinator of the EPFL Minor on 'Engineering for Sustainability'
Background

  • 1987: MS in materials science and solid state physics (INPL, France)

  • 1991: PhD in materials science (Ecole des Mines, INPL, France)

  • 1992: Research Associate, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST, USA)

Selected publications

Durability of Nanosized Oxygen-Barrier Coatings on Polymers (Review paper)

Leterrier Y.
Published in Prog. Mater. Sci., 48, 1-55 (2003) in

Mechanical Integrity of Transparent Conductive Oxide Films for Flexible Polymer-Based Displays

Leterrier Y, Médico L., Demarco F., Månson J.-A. E., Escola-Figuera M., Kharrazi-Olsson M., Betz U., Atamny F.
Published in Thin Solid Films, 460, 156-166 (2004) in

A Novel Synthetic Strategy for Bioinspired Functionally Graded Nanocomposites Employing Magnetic Field Gradients

Nardi T., Leterrier Y., Karimi A., MÃ¥nson J.-A.E.
Published in RSC Adv., 4, 7246-7255 (2014) in

Mechanics of Curvature and Strain in Flexible Organic Electronic Devices, in Handbook of Flexible Organic Electronics: Materials, Manufacturing and Applications

Leterrier Y.
Published in Logothetidis S., Ed., Woodhead Publishing Ltd, Cambridge, UK (2015). ISBN 9781782420354. in

A Facile in Situ and UV Printing Process for Bioinspired Self-Cleaning Surfaces

González Lazo M.A., Katrantzis I., Dalle Vacche S., Karasu F., Leterrier Y.,
Published in , Materials, 9, 738 (2016) in

Organic-Inorganic Hybrid Planarization and Water Vapor Barrier Coatings on Cellulose Nanofibrils Substrates

Karasu F., Müller L., Ridaoui H., Ibn ElHaj M., Flodberg G., Aulin C., Axrup L., Leterrier Y.
Published in Front. Chem., 6, 571 (2018) in

Interface-Dominated Time-Dependent Behavior of Poled Poly(Vinylidene Fluoride–Trifluoroethylene)/Barium Titanate Composites

Dalle Vacche S., Damjanovic D., Michaud V., Leterrier Y.
Published in Materials, 13, 225 (2020) in

Complete list of publications

Teaching & PhD

PhD Students

Anthony Ines P Hoogmartens, Alper Balkan, Michele Bonacina

Past EPFL PhD Students

Aigoul Schreier

Past EPFL PhD Students as codirector

Lars Schmidt, Bandeep Singh, Julien Rion, Valérie Geiser, Marina Aymara González Lazo, Tommaso Nardi

Courses

Rheology and fluid mechanics

MSE-206

This course is an introduction to the rheology of linear viscoelastic solids, and to fluid flow and methods used in rheology of fluids. Various types of fluids and phenomena are considered with various exemples, Newtonian or non-newtonian liquids, turbulence, reactive systems and suspensions.

Science and technology of UV-induced polymerization

MSE-703

The course presents the main classes of photopolymers and key factors which control photopolymerization. It explains how to select the right formulation and optimize processes for a given application. Standard and novel characterization methods, new materials and new applications are also presented.

Soft Microsystems Processing and Devices

MICRO-618

Amongst others, following topics will be covered during the course: - Soft Microsystems and Electronics - Electroactive polymers - Printed electronics and microsystems - Inkjet printing of polymers - Stretchable electronics - Mechanical reliability - Stencil lithography - Scanning Probe Lithography

Towards sustainable materials

MSE-433

This course will address and model key sustainability issues through an engineering lens. It will examine emerging materials, hard to abate, and critical materials used to manufacture items in our economy during the transition to NetZero targets and their environmental, societal, and human impacts.