Yves Leterrier
Fields of 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
- 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)
- 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)
Biography
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'
- 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)
Publications
Infoscience publications
Selected publications
Teaching & PhD
Teaching
Materials Science and Engineering
PhD Students
Balkan Alper, Bonacina Michele, Hoogmartens Anthony Ines P,Past EPFL PhD Students
Geiser Valérie , González Lazo Marina Aymara , Nardi Tommaso , Rion Julien , Schreier Aigoul ,Courses
Soft Microsystems Processing and Devices
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
Rheology and fluid mechanics
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.
Towards sustainable materials
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.
Science and technology of UV-induced polymerization
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.