POLYMER ELECTROLYTES - THE EARLY DAYS

The interdisciplinary nature of polymer electrolytes is briefly survey ed. The 1970s are identified as a decade of change from a 'classical' period of polymer science, in which the foundations of the chemistry a nd physics of the subject were established alongside the consumer plas tics industry, to a period in which scarcer research funds became dire cted towards increasingly interdisciplinary and collaborative projects and in which commercial applications and environmental factors became increasingly prominent. The introduction of polymers with high levels of ionic conductivity and their adoption by the wider technological c ommunity is an apparent consequence of the research and industrial exp erience of the author together with the 'new' climate of the 1970 s wh ich also gave rise to other areas of electroactive polymer activity. S ome further developments in polymer electrolytes during the 1980 s and closer to the present time are also briefly reviewed. (C) 1997 Elsevi er Science Ltd. All rights reserved.