title: Semiconducting and Metallic Polymers: The Fourth Generation of Polymeric Materials (Nobel Lecture) Copyright(c) The Nobel Foundation 2001. We thank the Nobel Foundation, Stockholm, for permission to print this lecture.
abstract: When asked to explain the importance of the discovery of conducting polymers, I offer two basic answers: first they did not (could not?) exist, and second, that they offer a unique combination of properties not available from any other known materials. The first expresses an intellectual challenge; the second expresses a promise for utility in a wide variety of applications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Materials Department Institute for Polymers and Organic Solids University of California, Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA, 93106 (USA).
authors.forename: Alan J.
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Heeger