Smarter bank notes, health-protecting wearable electronics, and bendy solar cells are just some of the ways that polymer science is making plastic fantastic. Next week, three Australian researchers will tell audiences in Sydney and Melbourne how they are putting polymers to work.
Wearable patches that warn of sunburn and smart contact lenses that act as sunglasses are just the beginning for RMIT’s Associate Professor Madhu Bhaskaran who hopes her research into “stretchy electronics” will lead to wearable devices that can improve our health.
Printable solar cells—in our windows, curtains and even our clothes—are the future, according to Dr Scott Watkins. While at CSIRO he worked with the Victorian Organic Solar Cell Consortium (VICOSC) on developing new materials and printing processes to manufacture polymer-based solar cells.
And over in Adelaide, Associate Professor Drew Evans and his team at the Future Industries Institute created the world’s first plastic car mirror—over 3 million of which they’ve now exported to America. The process they’ve developed allows manufacturers to replace components made from traditional materials like glass, in cars, aircraft, spacecraft, and even whitegoods—making them lighter and more efficient.
In many ways, these innovations can be traced back to the humble $10 note. Fifty years ago—following a major forgery, CSIRO’s Professor David Solomon was invited to a meeting about how to make bank notes more secure. His solution became Australia’s world-famous plastic bank note and was based on Professor Solomon’s glittering career in the field of polymer science.
With Professor Ezio Rizzardo David Solomon went on to discover the first practical method of making controlled polymer structures by a simple method termed NMP.
“This represented a quantum leap in polymer science,” said Academy President Andrew Holmes, himself a chemist who led the VICOSC project.
“Controlled polymerisation allowed chemists to make polymers that were not accessible before. As we could stop and start the chain reactions, we could create all sorts of shapes and sizes, and make polymers with different properties. This has led to an explosion in commercial applications for these materials, from medicine to the environment, and paints to electronic materials,” said Andrew.
Polymers in a material world is the first event in the Australian Academy of Science’s 2017 National Speaker Series Plastic Fantastic. It comes to Melbourne on 28 February and Sydney on 2 March. Other talks will follow later in the year in Wollongong, Brisbane and Adelaide. The series is presented with the support of Professor David Solomon AC.
The event speakers and Professor Solomon are available for interview: please contact Toni Stevens on 0401 763 130 or media@science.org.au to arrange.
© 2024 Australian Academy of Science
