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鈥檚 Associate Professor Madhu Bhaskaran who hopes her research into 鈥渟tretchy electronics鈥� will lead to wearable devices that can improve our health.
Printable solar cells鈥攊n our windows, curtains and even our clothes鈥攁re 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 created the world鈥檚 first plastic car mirror鈥攐ver 3 million of which they鈥檝e now exported to America. The process they鈥檝e developed allows manufacturers to replace components made from traditional materials like glass, in cars, aircraft, spacecraft, and even whitegoods鈥攎aking them lighter and more efficient.
In many ways, these innovations can be traced back to the humble $10 note. Fifty years ago鈥攆ollowing a major forgery, CSIRO鈥檚 Professor David Solomon was invited to a meeting about how to make bank notes more secure. His solution became Australia鈥檚 world-famous plastic bank note and was based on Professor Solomon鈥檚 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.
鈥淭his represented a quantum leap in polymer science,鈥� said Academy President Andrew Holmes, himself a chemist who led the VICOSC project.
鈥淐ontrolled 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,鈥� said Andrew.
Polymers in a material world is the first event in the 精东视频鈥檚 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.
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