# Prashant Sonar **Prashant Sonar** is an organic and printed electronics materials scientist who works on conjugated π-functional organic semiconducting and conducting materials for organic field-effect and electrochemical transistors, organic and perovskite solar cells, displays, sensing, logic circuits, memory, and light-detection devices.[1](https://research.qut.edu.au/cms/people/prashant-sonar/) He joined Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Brisbane in 2014 after eight years at the Institute of Materials Research and Engineering in Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology, and Research (A*STAR).[1](https://research.qut.edu.au/cms/people/prashant-sonar/) • [2](https://www.theportobellobookshop.com/contributed-by/prashant-sonar) His research interests span the design and synthesis of small molecules, oligomers, dendrimers and polymers for organic field-effect transistors (OFETs), organic light-emitting diodes, organic photovoltaics, perovskite solar cells, bioelectronics and wearable electronics.[2](https://www.theportobellobookshop.com/contributed-by/prashant-sonar) | Key facts | | |---|---| | Field | Organic and printed electronics; conjugated organic semiconductor materials[1](https://research.qut.edu.au/cms/people/prashant-sonar/) | | PhD | Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Germany, 2004, with research at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research[1](https://research.qut.edu.au/cms/people/prashant-sonar/) • [2](https://www.theportobellobookshop.com/contributed-by/prashant-sonar) | | A*STAR | Research Scientist at the Institute of Materials Research and Engineering from 2006; eight years in the Visiting Investigatorship (VIP) Program on organic/polymer electronics[1](https://research.qut.edu.au/cms/people/prashant-sonar/) | | Signature work | Review "Organic non-fullerene acceptors for organic photovoltaics", *Energy & Environmental Science*, 2011[3](https://eprints.qut.edu.au/75242/) | | Fellowships[5](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/professor-prashant-sonar-b212018_thanks-to-the-royal-society-of-chemistry-activity-6856306689050738688-Erep) | ARC Future Fellowship (2013); Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry; Foreign Fellow of the Maharashtra Academy of Sciences[1](https://research.qut.edu.au/cms/people/prashant-sonar/) • [2](https://www.theportobellobookshop.com/contributed-by/prashant-sonar) | ## Education and early career Sonar was awarded his PhD in 2004 from [Johannes Gutenberg](https://www.edgepedia.org/johannes-gutenberg)-Universität Mainz in Germany and undertook research work at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research.[1](https://research.qut.edu.au/cms/people/prashant-sonar/) • [2](https://www.theportobellobookshop.com/contributed-by/prashant-sonar) After his doctorate he joined the Freie Universität Berlin and then the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology ([ETH Zurich](https://www.edgepedia.org/eth-zurich)) as a postdoctoral scientist.[1](https://research.qut.edu.au/cms/people/prashant-sonar/) ## A*STAR Institute of Materials Research and Engineering In 2006 he moved to the Institute of Materials Research and Engineering at A*STAR in Singapore as a Research Scientist.[1](https://research.qut.edu.au/cms/people/prashant-sonar/) He spent eight years there as a member of the institute's Visiting Investigatorship (VIP) Program team, working on organic and polymer electronics for organic photovoltaic (OPV), organic field-effect transistor (OFET) and organic light-emitting field-effect transistor (OLEFET) applications.[1](https://research.qut.edu.au/cms/people/prashant-sonar/) ## Queensland University of Technology At QUT he established the Organic and Printed Electronics Research group and initiated device fabrication capabilities.[1](https://research.qut.edu.au/cms/people/prashant-sonar/) Within QUT's research centers he is an investigator in the Soft Material program of the Centre for Materials Science, a program leader in the Centre for Clean Energy Technologies and Practices, and an associate investigator in the Centre for a Waste Free World and the Centre for Biomedical Technologies.[1](https://research.qut.edu.au/cms/people/prashant-sonar/) ## Representative work Sonar's 2011 review "Organic non-fullerene acceptors for organic photovoltaics", published in *Energy & Environmental Science* (volume 4, issue 5, pages 1558–1574), surveyed the synthesis, characterization, and implementation of non-fullerene n-type organic acceptors for photovoltaic applications.[3](https://eprints.qut.edu.au/75242/) Its premise was that the highest-performing solar cells of the time were dominated by acceptors based on the fullerene family, and that far less attention had been devoted to other classes of n-type acceptors.[3](https://eprints.qut.edu.au/75242/) His other representative works include the review "Organic Interfacial Materials for Perovskite-based Optoelectronic Devices" (*Energy & Environmental Science*, 2019, volume 12, page 1177), the review "Organic Field-Effect Transistor-Based Flexible Sensors" (*Chemical Society Reviews*, 2020, volume 49, pages 3423–3460), and a 2018 *Advanced Energy Materials* paper on anthanthrone-dye-based [dopant-free hole transport](https://www.edgepedia.org/dopant-free-hole-transport) materials for perovskite solar cells.[1](https://research.qut.edu.au/cms/people/prashant-sonar/) ## Recognition and editorial roles Sonar is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and a Foreign Fellow of the Maharashtra Academy of Sciences.[5](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/professor-prashant-sonar-b212018_thanks-to-the-royal-society-of-chemistry-activity-6856306689050738688-Erep) • [1](https://research.qut.edu.au/cms/people/prashant-sonar/) His awards and nominations include the Yashwant Gungaurav Award, Singapore's President's Science and Technology Award, A*STAR's Long Service Award, the QUT Vice-Chancellor's Performance Award, and finalist standing for the Australia India Science, Research and Development Award.[1](https://research.qut.edu.au/cms/people/prashant-sonar/) He serves on the editorial boards of *Flexible and Printed Electronics*, *Materials Research Express*, *Frontiers in Chemistry* and *Energies*.[1](https://research.qut.edu.au/cms/people/prashant-sonar/) ## Recent developments At the 2023 ECS Meeting, Sonar delivered an invited talk, according to the meeting abstract *Novel Functional π-Conjugated Materials for Photonics, Electronics, and Sensing*, on the design, synthesis, optoelectronic properties, and device performance of conjugated carbon-based materials, whether polymers, small molecules, or quantum dots, for field-effect and electrochemical transistors, perovskite solar cells, light-emitting diodes, optical sensors, and other sensing devices.[4](https://doi.org/10.1149/ma2023-01341884mtgabs) ## References 1. [Prashant Sonar – Centre for Materials Science, QUT](https://research.qut.edu.au/cms/people/prashant-sonar/) 2. [Prashant Sonar, contributor biography](https://www.theportobellobookshop.com/contributed-by/prashant-sonar) 3. [Organic non-fullerene acceptors for organic photovoltaics – QUT ePrints](https://eprints.qut.edu.au/75242/) 4. [(Invited) Novel Functional π-Conjugated Materials for Photonics, Electronics, and Sensing – ECS Meeting Abstracts, 2023](https://doi.org/10.1149/ma2023-01341884mtgabs) 5. [Professor prashant sonar b212018 thanks to the royal society of chemistry activity 6856306689050738688 Erep (linkedin.com)](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/professor-prashant-sonar-b212018_thanks-to-the-royal-society-of-chemistry-activity-6856306689050738688-Erep) --- *Topic: Encyclopedia › Physical world and mathematics › Physical and mathematical scientists › Chemists › Researchers in polymer, supramolecular, and materials chemistry › Conjugated and organic electronic materials* *Initially written Sep 21, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 25, 2026; Sep 30, 2026 · Edited: Sep 25, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 15, 2026 · Last review: Sep 30, 2026* *Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.* License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license