Sexy plastics topic of discussion at University

Aug 30, 2003

University of Wollongong researcher Professor Leon Kane-Maguire gave his take on "sexy plastics" at a lecture held at the University as part of the "Frontiers of Science" lecture series.

His talk described an exciting new class of organic polymers that differ remarkably from earlier generations of plastics. They conduct electricity and their properties (e.g. colours, shape, electronics) may be rapidly and reversibly switched. Many of them are also photovoltaic, i.e. they generate electrical current when exposed to sunlight.

These "sexy plastics" are used in a multitude of applications including "electronic noses" that can sense chemicals, flexible electronic displays such as a new generation of flat TV screens, artificial muscles for robots orhumanrehabilitation, intelligent fabrics such as the "smart bra", clothing, tents and blankets that generate electricity from sunlight, and molecular electronic devices for communicating with biomolecules in the body.

Professor Kane-Maguire is a part of the dynamic Intelligent Polymer Research Institute at the University of Wollongong.