Abstract:
Two research problems. have been addressed in this thesis. Both the probleM.S.
involve the use of Conjugated Polymers. The first problem undertaken revolves
around the photoexcitation of a semiconducting polymer-liquid electrolyte system.
The system has been probed using photo-voltage and photo-capacitance measurements.
The second problem involves extracellular recordings of the light-evoked elec-
trial activity from a mammalian retina. The aim is to study the changes induced
in these signals when the properties of the recording electrodes are changed, precisely, when the recording electrodes are modified with a conducting polymer. The
methods of study also include some basic noise analysis.
Chapter 1 is a general introduction to the properties of conjugated polymers.
It also includes a brief summary of the features of a semiconductor-electrolyte interface.
Chapter 2 includes the experimental methods, results and analysis of the work
done on semiconducting polymer-electrolyte devices.
Chapter 3 is an introduction to the electrical signal processes in the retina and
some basic concepts of the extracellular recording techniques.
Chapter 4 summarizes the experiments and analysis of results obtained from the
extracellular recordings of a retina using conducting polymer modified electrodes.
