Metallic plastic
Metal-containing polymers stand to benefit from the mechanical properties of polymers and the chemical properties of metals. Tom Westgate finds that recent advances in design and synthesis make these materials far more than mere chemical curiosities
Polymers pervade nearly every part of our lives, and almost everyone knows how useful these long-chain molecules are. Meanwhile, any high-school chemistry student can tell you that metal complexes have many interesting properties like redox behaviour, catalysis and magnetism. But is it possible to get the best of both worlds?
Slowly but surely, chemists have developed ways to make a range of polymers with the same exciting physical and chemical properties as metals, without sacrificing the mechanical strength and ease of processing found in conventional plastics. This has opened up plenty of potential applications for these materials, from nanotechnology to fuel cells, chemical sensors to catalysis.