Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
ing polyacetylene, for instance, workers now routinely make the material
conduct 50,000 amperes per volt per centimeter, up from 60 in the first re-
ports. Some investigators have even managed to make polyacetylene con-
Copyright 1997 Scientific American, Inc. Scientific American: The Solid-State Century 91
Conducting duct about one quarter as well as copper. ty of Durham in England. Copper con-
Plastics at Work Such developments are “extremely ducts 100,000 times as much current
Displayed are some devices that important for the whole conducting and costs half as much. Still, polyani-
might rely on electrically conducting field,” MacDiarmid says. “They exem- line’s electrical performance is more
organic materials in the near future. plify how dedicated improvement in than adequate for some applications, he
chemical and molecular structure can insists: “The kinds of things we are go-
lead to enormous advances in the phys- ing to replace are those that are compli-
ical and electrical properties.” More- cated to manufacture, like braids on ca-
over, the conductivity is readily adjust- ble.” Braids impart flexibility, permitting
COAXIAL CABLE ed. “You can control the quality of the coaxial cable to wind around your living-
Polyaniline could metallic state by controlling the struc- room end table, for example, to reach the
replace copper in tural order of the polymer,” notes Ar- cable television box. But weaving cop-
braided parts of the thur J. Epstein of Ohio State University. per wire into braids is a slow, laborious
cable. Appropriate Although other polymers are more task, Monkman explains. If workers
manufacturing conductive, polyaniline is emerging as could extrude polymer braids and lay
techniques are now
the material of choice for many appli- the insulation over the cable in a single
being sought.
cations. As one of the oldest of synthet- step, the speed of the manufacturing
ic organic polymers, its properties are would rise 10-fold, and the cost would
well known. The substance—which re- plummet. In 1995 the University of
sembles the plastic used in 35-millimeter Durham agreed to a three-year make-
photographic film—is easily made, it is or-break deal with a cable company.
stable in air and its electronic properties “There will be a product, or there will
are readily customized. Most impor- never be a product,” he says ruefully.
tant, polyaniline is cheap—the most in-
expensive conducting polymer around. That Annoying Static Cling
In terms of geometry, it can also assume
diverse incarnations, including thin
films and patterned surfaces.
Polyaniline, which conducts up to
A lthough conducting organics could
find uses in virtually anything that
relies on electricity, solid-state electron-
about 500 amperes per volt per cen- ics probably offers the greatest number
timeter, will not replace copper wiring, of opportunities. At the moment, ob-
THIN-FILM however. “We won’t be as good as cop- serves Marie Angelopoulos of the IBM
TRANSISTORS per; we won’t be as cheap as copper,” Thomas J. Watson Research Center,
Flexible and admits Andy Monkman of the Universi- “the largest market is electrostatic dissi-
ELECTROMAGNETIC transparent, these
SHIELDING components could
Incorporated into drive existing
computer cases, active-matrix FLEXIBLE DISPLAY
conducting poly- displays or The ultimate goal of organic display technology,
mers can block out all-plastic displays. such screens would combine the flexibility, con-
electromagnetic Demonstration ductivity and light-emitting ability of the materials.
interference in the transistors have Competition from liquid-crystal displays and mar-
megahertz range. been made. ket resistance may make them unlikely.
SMART WINDOWS
These windows
goal of
Ultimate goa
organic displ
display
technology, c combining
the flexibility,
conductivities and light
abili of the
emitting ability
materials.
would change
te goal
Ultimac display
organi logy,
techno the
of transparency and
color automatically.
combiningity,
flexibil s and
conductivitieg ability
light emittin als.
materi from
of the
Competitionl
liquid-crystaand
displays t resista
nce
Ultimat marke this
displaye goal of organic
automobiles use
le resistance may market
display
Ultimat make this
device unlikely.Fle crystalt resistance
displaye goal of organic Display xible marke this
combin technology, Ultimate goal may make
conducing the flexibili of organic
display technology device ible
emittingtivities and light ty,
combining the , unlikely.Flex
materia ability of the conductivities flexibility,
y
Displa te goal of
ls.
from liquid-cCompe
rystal
tition emitting abilityand light Ultima
display of the
materials. Competitio orga
resistans and market
A
ls. Compe
from liquid-c tition emitting abilityand light
mirrors.
display rystal of the
materials. Competitio
resistans and market from liquid-cryst n
device ce may make displays and al
unlikely
Display .Flexiblethis resistance may market
Ultimat make this
device unlikely.Fle
displaye goal of organic Display xible
combin technology, Ultimate goal
conduc ing the flexibili of organic
display technology
emittingtivities and light ty,
combining the ,
materia ability of the conductivities flexibility,
ls.
emitting abilityand light
materials. of the
+
SOLDER
4 Water-soluble polyaniline
2001 2002 2003 200
may replace the toxic, lead-
based solder now used, if its
conductivity can be boosted
by four orders of magnitude.
BATTERIES
Sales of rechargeable button cells have
thus far been weak, but new all-polymer
batteries producing higher voltages
might renew interest. Other forms of en-
Copyright 1997 Scientific American, Inc. ergy storage, such as capacitors, are also
being sought.
pation.” Such charges are well known guard against spurious signals, Epstein
KARL GUDE
to wreak havoc on digital devices: esti- remarks. Conventional screening mate-
mates of electrostatic damage to elec- rials rely on impregnated bits of carbon
tronic equipment alone exceed $15 bil- or metal, which could harm the me-
lion yearly in the U.S., she notes. chanical properties of the base material CAMOUFLAGE
Contemporary protective packaging, at any points that bend. Although pro- COATINGS
which relies on ionic salts or resins filled posals relying on polymers are still more The U.S. military is
with metals or carbon, has some short- costly than present solutions, conduct- considering coatings
comings. The conductivities of ionic ma- ing polymers could be adulterated with and fabrics that are
terials tend to be low and unstable; metal other substances, such as nylon, to re- blended with con-
is expensive and heavy; and carbon poses duce the expense. BIOLOGICAL ducting polymers
a contamination hazard because bits of it Polymers could also be environmen- SENSORS to spoof radar.
can slough off during shipment. Poly- tally correct. IBM’s PanAquas is soluble Conductivity of
mers should be easier to handle and able in water (ordinarily, the polymer must polymer tags would
to dissipate electrostatic charges more ef- be processed with organic solvents). If change depending
ficiently. As a bonus, polyaniline coatings Angelopoulos and her colleagues could on exposure time
above a threshold
also happen to be highly transparent. In increase the conductivity of the water- temperature and
the summer of 1997 IBM began licensing soluble polyaniline, the material could would be remotely
the production of one such material, replace the lead-based solder used to read by a scanner.
PanAquas. connect electronics parts on a substrate. Sensors for aromas,
The dissipative abilities of polymers MacDiarmid explains that outdated enzymes and
also make them ideal for electromagnet- equipment poses an environmental haz- pesticides are now
ic shielding. Such protection is necessary ard and an economic nuisance: “In being used for
to keep electrical signals among compo- many parts of Europe the manufacturer quality control and
nents from overlapping—the reason air- must remove all lead-containing materi- safety analysis.
lines request that portable electronics be al from discarded printed circuit boards,
turned off during takeoff and landing. which is one hell of a job.”
(The shielding would not benefit those
concerned about the potential health ef- The All-Plastic Transistor
fects of power lines, however, because
the frequencies of the fields are much
lower than these screens can block.) In-
corporated into the plastic cases of elec-
T he ultimate achievement in elec-
tronics application, however, would
be a component fabricated out of poly-
tronic equipment, the polymers can mers. Using ordinary circuit-printing
MEDICAL SU
PPLIE
9:15
2
COOK
19:54
WASH
ARTIFICIAL MUSCLE
Simple tweezers, ANTISTATIC
made from strips MATERIALS
of polymers with dif- LIGHT-EMITTING
DIODES Polymers that
ferent conductivities, dissipate electro- IL
-1
2
CHARLES O’REAR
applied across the two layers, the re-
searchers were able to vary the color of
the emitted light from red through yel-
low to green. POLYMER SHEETS made of polyaniline appear as a lustrous pink (left) until doped
In March 1997 Jenekhe and his col- with iodine, which makes the substance conduct and colors it blue (right). Weigong
leagues were finally able to produce an Zheng of the University of Pennsylvania prepared the material.
organic plastic material that emitted
blue light, and in the summer of 1997
researchers at Princeton University and emerges from only one end, more of it the chemical makeup of PPV, they have
the University of Southern California reaches the viewer, unlike the light from also teased the full range of colors out
created a bright, red-green-blue organic conventional diode structures, which of the devices. In 1996 several research-
LED whose color can be independently leaks wastefully in all directions. es showed that PPV can even lase.
controlled. Before these accomplish- The potentially higher efficiency may So far, however, polymer LEDs have
ments can be developed into a product, also boost the longevity. Current that is plenty of drawbacks. “Lifetime issues
however, several significant issues must not transformed into light becomes are clearly key to making this curiosity
be resolved, including the stability of waste heat, which hastens a diode’s de- into a business,” remarks Heeger, now
these organic materials over long peri- mise. Because a microcavity LED would at the University of California at Santa
ods. In the meantime, researchers are in- require less current for the same amount Barbara. Most polymer LEDs burn for
vestigating other potential uses for the of light, it should in principle last longer. only a few hundred hours, but 2,000 to
plastic light emitters, including back- 10,000 hours is desirable. The main
lights for liquid-crystal displays. Polymer Lights cause is inefficiency. The polymer LEDs
All the devices built so far, though, convert no more than 4 percent of the
have been too dim and inefficient. One
solution for increasing the brightness
and efficiency may be an alternative ar-
O ther investigators are trying to de-
velop LEDs made from polymers
instead of small organic molecules. The
current sent through them into light;
the rest is transformed into waste heat.
Hence, the diode can shine quite bright-
chitecture. An approach that has shown most widely used polymers are poly-p- ly, but the high voltage necessary to
some promise was unveiled recently at phenylenevinylene, or PPV for short, and achieve that intensity comes at the price
Bell Laboratories (now part of Lucent its derivatives. Richard H. Friend of the of faster breakdown.
Technologies), where Ananth Dodabal- Cavendish Laboratory at the University Improved processing might extend
apur and his colleagues constructed elec- of Cambridge and his associates dis- PPV’s life; during manufacturing, un-
troluminescent devices by sandwiching covered the green-yellow glow of PPV wanted reactions can create defects on
layers of Alq and inert material between in 1990. By combining that material the polymer chain, which interfere with
two reflecting surfaces. Structured this with electrodes made from other poly- PPV’s ability to glow. Shelf life is also a
way, the layers conform to the physics mers or from flexible metal backings drawback; at the moment, PPV diodes
of a Fabry-Perot cavity—the basic struc- (like the foil that keeps supermarket na- last only several months in storage be-
ture of most lasers. The emissive Alq chos fresh), researchers have produced cause they are unstable in air, reacting
sends out light that bounces back and flexible LEDs that give off 2.5 lumens with oxygen and water vapor. Better
forth, amplifying until it leaks out one per watt. Driven at 10 volts, the light is packaging might help.
end. (This type of microcavity yielded about as bright as the fluorescent lamp Still, polymer LEDs are close to being
true lasing in 1996.) Because the light in a liquid-crystal display. By varying sufficiently bright and efficient for