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The Nobel Prize in Chemistry
2000
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to
award the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2000 jointly
to
Alan J. Heeger
University of
California at Santa Barbara, USA,
Alan G.
MacDiarmid
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia,
USA,
Hideki Shirakawa
University of
Tsukuba, Japan
"for the discovery and development of conductive
polymers"
Plastic that conducts electricity
We have
been taught that plastics, unlike metals, do not conduct
electricity. In fact plastic is used as insulation round the copper wires
in ordinary electric cables.Yet this year's Nobel Laureates in Chemistry
are being rewarded for their revolutionary discovery that plastic
can, after certain modifications, be made electrically
conductive.
Plastics are polymers, molecules that repeat their
structure regularly in long chains. For a polymer to be able to conduct
electric current it must consist alternately of single and double bonds
between the carbon atoms. It must also be "doped", which means that
electrons are removed (through oxidation) or introduced (through
reduction). These "holes" or extra electrons can move along the molecule -
it becomes electrically conductive.
Heeger, MacDiarmid and
Shirakawa made their seminal findings at the end of the 1970s and have
subsequently developed conductive polymers into a research field of great
importance for chemists as well as physicists. The area has also yielded
important practical applications. Conductive plastics are used in, or
being developed industrially for, e.g. anti-static substances
for photographic film, shields for computer screen against electromagnetic
radiation and for "smart" windows (that can exclude sunlight). In
addition, semi-conductive polymers have recently been developed in
light-emitting diodes, solar cells and as displays in mobile telephones
and mini-format television screens.
Research on conductive
polymers is also closely related to the rapid development in molecular
electronics. In the future we will be able to produce transistors and
other electronic components consisting of individual molecules - which
will dramatically increase the speed and reduce the size of our computers.
A computer corresponding to what we now carry around in our bags would
suddenly fit inside a watch…
***
Alan J. Heeger, 64, was born in 1936 in Sioux City, Iowa, USA
(US citizen). He is Professor of Physics and Director of the Institute for
Polymers and Organic Solids at the University of California at Santa
Barbara.
Alan G MacDiarmid, 73, was born in 1927 in Masterton,
New Zealand (US citizen). He is Professor of Chemistry at the University
of Pennsylvania.
Hideki Shirakawa, 64, was born in 1936 in
Tokyo (Japanese citizen). He is Professor of Chemistry at the Institute of
Materials Science, University of Tsukuba, Japan.
The Prize
amount, SEK 9 million, will be shared equally among the
Laureates.
Press Officer: Eva Krutmeijer, phone + 46 8 673 95
95, +46 709 84 66 38, evak@kva.se
Useful
links/Further reading
10
October 2000
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