Fred Wudl

Abstract:

“Plastics are a large group of synthetic organic materials whose common quality is that they can be molded into desired shapes—and they are now everywhere.”….“But plastics are now most indispensable in health care in general and in hospitals in particular. Life now begins (in maternity wards) and ends (in intensive care units) surrounded by plastic items made above all from different kinds of PVC: flexible tubes (for feeding patients, delivering oxygen, and monitoring blood pressure), catheters, intravenous containers, blood bags, sterile packaging, trays and basins, bedpans and bed rails, thermal blankets.” [1]
At the beginning of the XX century, with the exception of diamond, materials science was absolutely dominated by inorganic solids. This was the case, even though Bakelite had been patented in 1907. By mid-century organic engineering materials were rapidly finding applications as phone housings and radio housings, pens, mechanical pencils, circuit boards, etc. A whole art deco field in the arts, crafts and architecture was fueled by plastics from the 1920’s on. [2] Toward the end of the XX century, implements that relied solely on cement and metals, such as airplanes, automobiles and vehicle bridges were being made out of plastics (thermosets) and even recycled plastics. [3].
The subtler area of materials science, electronics, was governed by silicon and, to a lesser extent, germanium. Organic electrical conductors were slowly being developed towards the end of the century, receiving a strong impetus with the appearance of organic metals, superconductors and semiconductors, as well as the preparation of polyacetylene and other semiconductor polymer films and the discovery that they could be coaxed to increase their conductivity upon oxidation or reduction (doping). [4]
In this presentation the emphasis will be on the electrical conductivity of organic materials and their technological applications such as light emitting diodes, photovoltaics, thermoelectrics and batteries.