The development of "tailormade" electrode surfaces using electroactive
polymer films has been one of the most active and exciting areas of
electrochemistry over the last 15 years. The properties of these
materials have been examined by a wide range of scientists from a
variety of perspectives, and now electroactive polymer research is
considered to be a reasonably mature area of research endeavor. Much is
now understood about the fundamental mechanism of conduction in these
materials. A wide range of electrochemical techniques may be used to
probe the conductivity processes in these materials, and more recently,
a number of in situ spectroscopic techniques have been used to further
elucidate the structure of these materials. The in situ spectroscopies
and allied techniques have also been used to obtain correlations between
structure and redox activity. The applications found for electroactive
polymers are many and varied, and range from thin film amperometric
chemical and biological sensors, electrocatalytic systems, drug delivery
devices, and advanced battery systems through to molecular electronic
devices. The research literature on electroactive polymers is truly
enormous and can daunt even the most hardened researcher. The vast
quantity of material reported in the literature can also intimidate
beginning graduate students. Hence the present book. The original idea
for this book arose as a result of a series of lectures on chemically
modified eiectrodes and electroactive polymers given by the writer to
final-year undergraduates at Trinity College Dublin.
