In situ continuous hydrogen-bonded engineering for intrinsically stretchable and healable high-mobility polymer semiconductors.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 39356754.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1126/sciadv.adq0171 and PMC identifier 11446264.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
As a key component for wearable electronics, intrinsically stretchable and healable semiconducting polymers are scarce because carrier mobility is often reduced with increasing stretchability and self-healability. Here, we combine stepwise polymerization and thermal conversion to introduce in situ continuous hydrogen bonding sites in a polymer backbone without breaking the conjugation or introducing bulky softer side chains, benefiting the intrachain and interchain charge transport. We demonstrate that a regular sequence structure facilitated the formation of big nanofibers with a high degree of aggregation, providing the loose and porous thin film with simultaneously improved charge transport, stretchability, and self-healability. The mobility of damaged devices can be recovered to 81% after a healing treatment. Fully stretchable transistor based on the designed polymer exhibited a greatly enhanced mobility up to 1.08 square centimeters per volt per second under 100% strain, which is an unprecedented value and constitutes a major step for the development of intrinsically stretchable and healable semiconducting polymers.