His students and collaborators have pioneered the use of nanotechnology in conjunction with organic conductors to create new materials for energy conversion and storage as well as medical bionics.
[1] He has developed new approaches to fabrication that allow material properties discovered in the nano world to be translated into micro structures and macro scopic devices.
Wallace's first major contribution to science was to challenge the conventional wisdom that instability in polymer materials should always be eliminated.
He asserted that this instability could, if understood, be directed and controlled, allowing the creation of "intelligent" polymers – materials that sense and respond to stimuli.
[citation needed] Wallace has played a significant role in helping to lift the international research reputation of the University of Wollongong.
[citation needed] As of 2012 he had published more than 1,000 refereed papers and monographs on inherently conducting polymers for intelligent material systems, as well as the book Organic Bionics.
[12][13] He received the Inaugural Polymer Science and Technology award from the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI) in 1992.
He received the RACI Stokes Medal for research in Electrochemistry in 2004 and was elected as a Fellow of the Institute of Physics (UK).