SEMICONDUCTING AND METALLIC POLYMERS： THE FOURTH GENERATION OF POLYMERIC MATERIALS.pdf

Chinese J ournal of F olymer Science Vol. 19, No. 6, (100 1), 545-5 2 Chinese J ournal of Polymer Science 200 1 Springer-Verlag SE M I C O N D U C T IN G A N D M E T A L L I C P O L Y M E R S : T H E F O U R T H GENERATION OF POLYMERI C MATERIALS Alan J.Heeger Department of Physics, Materials Dep artment, Institutef or Polymer s and Organic Solids University of Cahfornia, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93 106, USA I N T R O D U C T I O N In 19 6, Alan MacDiarmid, Hideki Shirakawa and 1, together with a talented group of graduate students and post-doctoral researchers discovered conducting polymers and the ability to dope these polymers over the full rangerf ominsulator tometals-21.Thiswaspart icularly excitingbecauseit createdanewfield ofresearch onthe boundary between chemistry and condensedmatt er physics, and because it created anumber of opportunities: Conducting polymers opened the way to progress in understanding the fundamental chemistry and physics o f n -b on d ed m a cr om o lecu le s . Conducting polymers provided an opportunity to address questions that had been of fundamental interest to quantum chemistry for decades: is there bond alternation in long chain polyenes? What is the relative importance o f th e elecrt on -e lecr on a nd t he elecrt on -latt ic e in t er act ion s in c-b on d ed m a cr om o lecu les? Conduct ing polymers provided an opportunity to address fundamental issues of importance to condensed matt er physics as well, including, for example, the meta