Since the discovery of the metallic conductive properties of polyacetylene in 1977 [1, 2], continuous research effort has been devoted to developing new π-conjugated polymers and to understanding their properties. This discovery led to the 2000 Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded to Drs. Shirakawa, Heeger, and MacDiarmid. Many researchers, both in academia and industry, have intensively studied π-conjugated polymers to exploit their attractive semiconducting and optical properties, pioneering new fields of plastic electronics and photonics. Currently, semiconducting π-conjugated polymers are of significant interest for applications in light-emitting diodes, photovoltaic cells, field-effect transistors, and sensors, all of which are being pushed toward commercialization. These emerging technologies would greatly impact our modern life and society.
We, a specially organized editorial team, present here a special issue on “π-conjugated polymers”. We have invited outstanding researchers from around the world to this special issue and collected 2 Reviews, 4 Focus Reviews, and 19 Original Articles. We believe that this special issue will be valuable for readers who have interests in functional polymers, as with a series of Polymer Journal special issues published in the past [3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13]. Lastly, we sincerely appreciate all the authors and referees for their great contribution to this special issue.
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Yasuda, T., Osaka, I., Tanaka, K. et al. Special issue: π-conjugated polymers. Polym J 55, 295 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41428-022-00750-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41428-022-00750-9
