Polymers electronic devices based

Ion liquid-based gel polymer electrolytes in combination with electronically conducting polymer-based electrodes, such as PEDOT, have been smdied to prepare supercapacitors [113, 114]. For instance, Pandey et al. have characterized devices with specific PEDOT electrode capacitance of-154.5 F g, maximum specific energy of 6.5 Wh kg", and specific power of 11.3 kW kg". ... 

Thermosetting-encapsulation compounds, based on epoxy resins (qv) or, in some niche appHcations, organosiHcon polymers, are widely used to encase electronic devices. Polyurethanes, polyimides, and polyesters are used to encase modules and hybrids intended for use under low temperature, low humidity conditions. Modified polyimides have the advantages of thermal and moisture stabiHty, low coefficients of thermal expansion, and high material purity. Thermoplastics are rarely used for PEMs, because they are low in purity, requHe unacceptably high temperature and pressure processing conditions. 

Silicon shows a rich variety of chemical properties and it lies at the heart of much modern technology/ Indeed, it ranges from such bulk commodities as concrete, clays and ceramics, through more chemically modified systems such as soluble silicates, glasses and glazes to the recent industries based on silicone polymers and solid-state electronics devices. The refined technology of ultrapure silicon itself is perhaps the most elegant example of the close relation between chemistry and solid-state physics and has led to numerous developments such as the transistor, printed circuits and microelectronics (p. 332). 

The simplest polymer-based EL device consists of a single layer of semiconducting fluorescent polymer, c.g., PPV, sandwiched between two electrodes, one of which has to be transparent (Fig. 1-1). When a voltage or bias is applied to the material, charged carriers (electrons and holes) are injected into the emissive layer and these earners arc mobile under the influence of the high (> 105 V enr1) elec-... 

In recent years further concepts have been developed for the construction of polymer-based diodes, requiring either two conjugated polymers (PA and poly(A-methyl-pyrrole) 2 > or poly(A-methylpyrrole in a p-type silicon wafer solid-state field-effect transistor By modifying the transistor switching, these electronic devices can also be employed as pH-sensitive chemical sensors or as hydrogen or oxygen sensors 221) in aqueous solutions. Recently a PPy alcohol sensor has also been reported 222). 

The field of modified electrodes spans a wide area of novel and promising research. The work dted in this article covers fundamental experimental aspects of electrochemistry such as the rate of electron transfer reactions and charge propagation within threedimensional arrays of redox centers and the distances over which electrons can be transferred in outer sphere redox reactions. Questions of polymer chemistry such as the study of permeability of membranes and the diffusion of ions and neutrals in solvent swollen polymers are accessible by new experimental techniques. There is hope of new solutions of macroscopic as well as microscopic electrochemical phenomena the selective and kinetically facile production of substances at square meters of modified electrodes and the detection of trace levels of substances in wastes or in biological material. Technical applications of electronic devices based on molecular chemistry, even those that mimic biological systems of impulse transmission appear feasible and the construction of organic polymer batteries and color displays is close to industrial use. 

New natural polymers based on synthesis from renewable resources, improved recyclability based on retrosynthesis to reusable precursors, and molecular suicide switches to initiate biodegradation on demand are the exciting areas in polymer science. In the area of biomolecular materials, new materials for implants with improved durability and biocompatibility, light-harvesting materials based on biomimicry of photosynthetic systems, and biosensors for analysis and artificial enzymes for bioremediation will present the breakthrough opportunities. Finally, in the field of electronics and photonics, the new challenges are molecular switches, transistors, and other electronic components molecular photoad-dressable memory devices and ferroelectrics and ferromagnets based on nonmetals. 

M. Granstrom, M. Berggren, D. Pede, O. Inganas, M.R. Andersson, T. Hjertberg, and O. Wennerstrom, Self-organizing polymer films — a route to novel electronic devices based on conjugated polymers, Supramol. Sci., 4 27-34, 1997. 

J.H. Kim, Y. Hong, and J. Kanicki, Amorphous silicon thin-film transistors-based organic polymer light-emitting displays, IEEE Electron Device Lett., 24, 451-453, 2003. 

Heller, M. J. Utilization of synthetic DNA for molecular electronic and photonic-based device applications, in Lee, S. C. and Savage, L. (eds), Biological Molecules in Nanotechnology the Convergence of Biotechnology, Polymer Chemistry and Materials Science, IBC Press, Southborough, MA, USA, 1998, pp. 59-66. 

The idea of exploiting these new conducting polymers for the development of flexible diodes and junction transistors, as well as for selective field effect transistor sensors, has been proposed and experimentally confirmed, and thus we may, perhaps optimistically, look forward to a time when popular electronic devices can be based on low cost, flexible and modular polymer components. 

The protection of microelectronics from the effects of humidity and corrosive environments presents especially demanding requirements on protective coatings and encapsulants. Silicone polymers, epoxies, and imide resins are among the materials that have been used for the encapsulation of microelectronics. The physiological environment to which implanted medical electronic devices are exposed poses an especially challenging protection problem. In this volume, Troyk et al. outline the demands placed on such systems in medical applications, and discuss the properties of a variety of silicone-based encapsulants. 

---