description Hideki Shirakawa Overview
Hideki Shirakawa (born 1936) is a Japanese chemist who shared the 2000 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovering that polyacetylene becomes electrically conductive when doped with halogens such as iodine.
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Why was Hideki Shirakawa awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry?
Hideki Shirakawa shared the 2000 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his discovery that plastics can be made electrically conductive. He proved that a specific polymer could carry an electrical current when modified.
What specific plastic did Hideki Shirakawa use in his research?
Shirakawa's Nobel-winning research focused on polyacetylene. He developed a method to create thin, shiny films of this polymer that resembled metal.
How did Hideki Shirakawa make polyacetylene conduct electricity?
He discovered that by doping the polyacetylene film with halogens, such as iodine vapor, its electrical conductivity increased dramatically. This process removed electrons, allowing the remaining charge to flow through the polymer chain.
Who did Hideki Shirakawa share the 2000 Nobel Prize with?
Shirakawa shared the 2000 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Alan MacDiarmid and Alan Heeger. They worked together in the late 1970s to fully understand and develop these conductive organic polymers.
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