Investigations on some selected conducting polymers and polymer ...

Preface
Science and technology has revolutionized the modem world.
The progress in the areas of electronics, computerscience, health care,
communication engineering and information technology over the last
two decades is amazing. Progress in theoretical as well as experimental
research over the years has sowed the seeds for this abrupt growth. As
far as material science is concerned, synthesis and characterization of
novel materials with a view on device fabrication has flourished.
Conducting polymers is a fast growing area in materials science
research. Materials once considered as insulators have evolved as
semiconductors or metals. Conducting polymers are found to have
potential applications in the areas ofsensors, electromagnetic shielding,
microelectronic and optoelectronic devices. They have successfully
replaced metals in many areas owing to their lightness, resistance to
corrosion, low cost and ease of fabrication. But unfortunately the
optical and thermal properties of such systems have not been focused
much. Such a study is indispensable for the fabrication of
optoelectronic and microelectronic devices capable ofoperation at high
temperatures.
Conducting polymer composites are another area of interest.
Despite having good electrical and optical properties, most of the
conducting polymers have poor mechanical strength and thermal
stability. Making composites with suitable materials is a possible
remedy to this problem. Above all, the properties of conducting
polymers could be tailored suitably by preparing composites. It is one
ofthe hot areas in conducting polymer research.