The Incredible Chemistry Powering Your Smartphone

Feb, 10 2020
Article
The incredible chemistry powering your smartphone | TED@DuPont
Cathy Mulzer

Electrochemist

 
 
 
Ever wondered how your smartphone works? Take a journey down to the atomic level with scientist Cathy Mulzer, who reveals how almost every component of our high-powered devices exists thanks to chemists - and not the Silicon Valley entrepreneurs that come to most people's minds. As she puts it: "Chemistry is the hero of electronic communications."
 
 
 
Quote of the talk:

“The next time you send a text or take a selfie, think about all those atoms that are hard at work and the innovation that came before them.”

About the Speaker

Cathy Mulzer
Electrochemist

Cathy Mulzer works on the next generation of materials for all those electronic devices you love: your phone, your TV, your electric car.

As a senior scientist at DuPont’s Electronic & Imaging site in Marlborough, MA, Mulzer is part of a team that works in close collaboration with DuPont’s customers, seeking to innovate in material research and application to enable, for example, new sensors and sharper pictures in your smartphones. Moreover, Mulzer likes to engage in scientific discussions with the wider community -- through presentations and essays organized by the American Chemical Society, through seminars at her alma mater Marist College -- and also as part of outreach at local high schools to raise interest in scientific education. 

 
 
 

Want to know more about DuPont electronic materials? 

Electronic and imaging solutions from DuPont provide ndustry-leading technologies to enable smaller, smarter and faster electronics, transform the sun’s rays into clean energy, and bring high-quality printing to packaging and textiles.

Learn more

 
 
 
About TED@DuPont

Transformation begins with the spark of something new.

In 2018, TED and DuPont began a partnership to do just that: TRANSFORM. As the world and our interactions grow more complex, so do our challenges. To solve for modern problems, we decided to pursue a new framework for innovation itself, one that considers all perspectives and outcomes in the calculus. This inaugural TED@DuPont event signifies a monumental step to unlock the institutional knowledge within the organization and showcase the New DuPont. Taking place in September 2019, at The Fillmore in Philadelphia, the day’s topics ranged from science, technology, and beyond. Photo: Ryan Lash / TED

TED@DuPont