Conjugated polymers articles from across Nature Portfolio

The turn-off time is generally faster than the turn-on time in accumulation mode organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs), but the mechanism is less understood. Here the authors find different transient behaviours of turn-on and turn-off in accumulation mode OECTs, and ion transport is the limiting factor of device kinetics.

All-polymer solar cells comprising both polymeric donors and acceptors offer better morphological and mechanical stability, and a broader processing window for printing. Here, the authors report a polymer acceptor based on bithiazole linker with more coplanar and ordered molecular conformation.

A novel block copolymer, poly(3-hexylthiophene)-b-poly(vinyl catechol) (P3HT-b-PVC) was successfully synthesized via a Click reaction between chain-endfunctionalized P3HT with an alkyne group (P3HT-Alkyne) and chain-end-functionalized poly(3,4-di-tert-butyldimethylsilyloxystyrene) with an azide group (PSVC-Azide), followed by deprotection of tert-butyldimethylsilyloxy groups from the PSVC-Azide segment. Tape test results showed that the adhesion property of the P3HT-b-PVC film was considerably better than that of the corresponding P3HT film. Furthermore, despite the presence of an insulating PVC block in P3HT-b-PVC, the P3HT-b-PVC thin film exhibited a hole mobility comparable to that of the corresponding P3HT thin film.

The organic electrochemical transistor (OECT), with its organic mixed ionic–electronic conductor (OMIEC) channel, serves as an amplifying transducer of biological signals. This Review highlights OMIEC design milestones and illustrates how incorporating specific properties into OMIECs can extend OECT applications beyond biosensing.

A two-dimensional conjugated polymer is synthesized that demonstrates low electron effective masses and high mobility. These properties show that this material could act as a viable alternative to silicon-based semiconductors.

The synthesis of polyacene is hampered by low solubility and instability of the product as well as side reactions. Now, polyacene is synthesized by polymerizing monomers confined in a metal–organic framework.

Nanovoids in organic semiconductors can serve as hosts for water inclusions that lead to trapping of electrons and holes.

The use of mechanical force to break and build chemical bonds in polymers can enable transformations that cannot be conducted using stimuli such as light and heat. Now, an insulating polymer has been mechanically unzipped to create a semiconducting polymer with extended regions of conjugation.

Conjugation of a diabetes drug with a brush polymer reduces the reactivity of the drug conjugate towards pre-existing polymer antibodies in human plasma and improves the drug's performance in diabetic mice.