POLISH ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

On January 1^st, 2011 Center of Polymer and Carbon Materials of the Polish Academy of Sciences was nominated an official institute of Polish Academy of Sciences.

The Center, a renowned scientific institute, emerged on January 1st 2007 as a result of the union between two institutes of the Polish Academy of Sciences, that had been carrying out research on polymer and carbon materials for many years, the Center of Polymer Chemistry in Zabrze and the Institute of Coal Chemistry in Gliwice.

The origins of both the institutes date back to 1954, when the first institute of chemical sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences was established in Katowice voivodship. It was the Institute of Petrochemistry in Gliwice run by Professor Włodzimierz Kisielow of the Institute of Organic Chemistry in Warsaw. Advanced developments in science and the increasing interest in macromolecular compounds made it transform into a new unit on 29th October 1968 called the Institute of Coal Chemistry and Polymers, functioning in the framework of the Centre for Scientific Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Katowice voivodship. In 1971 thanks to the efforts made by Professor Zbigniew Jedliński it divided into two scientific research institutes, namely the Institute of Petro- and Coal Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Gliwice and the Institute of Polymers of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Zabrze. They both worked in the framework of the Centre for Scientific Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences until 1974, and then as independent institutes of the Polish Academy of Sciences. The Institute of  Petro- and Coal Chemistry changed its name in 1988 into the Institute of Coal Chemistry and in 1992 the Institute of Polymers was renamed the Center of Polymer Chemistry.

In the early 1990s the research range gradually changed in the Institute of Coal Chemistry. More and more attention has been paid to carbon and novel polymer materials with controlled structure and catalysts which are to be used in order to decrease the emission of the pollutants harmful for the environment forming during the utilization of fossil fuels for energetic purposes. Topics concerning materials had been prevailing in the research carried out in the Institute up till its fusion with the Center of Polymer Chemistry.

Scientific research carried out in the Institute of Polymers and then in the Center of Polymer Chemistry comprises both syntheses of novel polymers with investigations on the relationships between their structure and physical and chemical properties and their applications concerned with technological processes of their production. In the early 1990s the research started to focus on biodegradable polymers to be used in medicine, packaging and the protection of the environment as well as bioresorbable polymers for medical purposes, mainly as drug carriers. In 1998 the Institute of Solid State Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences, existing from 1968 and investigating semiconducting compounds , photovoltaic cells, thin films of crystalline and amorphous semiconductors with their structure and their electric, magnetic and optical properties, was incorporated in the Center of Polymer Chemistry. It enables the scientists of the Centre to enlarge the scope of their research and investigate novel polymers with applications in electronics and opto-electronics.

The importance of interdisciplinary research which utilizes the achievements of various fields of science creating at the same time new areas of science and technology made the Institute of Coal Chemistry and the Center of Polymer Chemistry unite in 2007 and form the Center of Polymer and Carbon Materials. Two research centers which in the past emerged from one scientific institute united so as to carry out interdisciplinary research combining elements of chemistry, physics, biology and medicine. Such research coincides with priorities of the European Union creating the foundations of economy based on knowledge. The research comprises investigations on novel polymer materials with controlled structure and their application in creating nano- and micro-devices and mechanisms, in selective transport and controlled release of  biologically active substances, in materials for optoelectronics and molecular electronics, technologies of thin films, syntheses of monolithic, porous carbon materials as precursors of ecological materials, in catalysts and their carriers as well as obtaining biodegradable materials and polymers from renewable raw materials.