ABSTRACT
Electrically conducting and semiconducting polymers represent a special and still very attractive class of functional chromophores, especially due to their unique optical and electronic properties and their broad device application potential. They are potentially suitable as materials for several applications of high future relevance, for example flexible photovoltaic modules, components of displays/screens and batteries, electrochromic windows, or photocatalysts. Therefore, their synthesis and structure elucidation are still intensely investigated. This article will demonstrate the very fruitful interplay of current electropolymerization research and its exploitation for science education issues. Experiments involving the synthesis of conducting polymers and their assembly into functional devices can be used to teach basic chemical and physical principles as well as to motivate students for an innovative and interdisciplinary field of chemistry.
Subject(s)
Electronics , Polymers , Humans , Polymers/chemistry , Oxidation-Reduction , Oxidative StressABSTRACT
This article describes the training and further education of chemistry teachers in Germany. Specific features are highlighted and, in part, critically examined.
ABSTRACT
On September 8, 2016, the Swiss Chemical Society (SCS) organized a symposium called the 'Future of Chemical Education' with lectures and workshops during the SCS Fall meeting at ETH Zurich. This article is a summary of the lecture and workshop that the author held at this event in which teachers carried out model experiments on photocatalysis and conversion of solar energy into stored chemical energy.