Oliver H. LeBlanc

Conduction in model biological membranes

The artividial lipid bilayer membrane is an elegant experimental model for the biological membrane. It is a curious kind of dielectric object, an ultrathin liquid hydrocarbon like film (approximately 50 % thick) which is made underwater. After discussing its relation to the biological membrane we survey briefly its ion transport properties.

Chapter IV: Conduction phenomena in dielectric solids

One of the prerogatives of the authors of any review is the choice of emphasis on those subjects in which the authors are particularly interested. The material covered here reflects, to some extent, just such a preference. The sheer quantity of literature published during the year 1964 which could be included under this general title precludes any completely general coverage in a reasonable-sized review. Hence, a selection was based upon a supposition on the interests of the readers of this volume. On this basis, the strongest interest was centered on materials generally considered as dielectrics and on theory most applicable to dielectric materials. The metals, as well as some other materials exhibiting metallic-like behavior, were in general not included. Likewise, no coverage was extended to the so-called wide-band semiconductors such as silicon and germanium on the assumption that adequate coverage of this subject is a separate work to be found in other sources. The intermetallic semiconductors were excluded on the same principle.

The mechanism of electronic transport in organic crystals

It is my experience that most scientists look at organic and inorganic crystals from two entirely different points of view, and they therefore have an intuitive feeling that the motion of electrons through an organic crystal must differ in some fundamental way from that in inorganic crystals. The argument of this paper is that this expectation is incorrect and that, on the contrary, electronic transport in organic crystals proceeds by the same sorts of processes and can be described with the same sorts of theories as in inorganic crystals.