Uva Azalea, Michailovich Sofia, Hsu Nathan Sung Yuan, Tran Helen
Department of Chemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3H6, Canada.
Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3H6, Canada.
J Am Chem Soc. 2024 May 8;146(18):12271-12287. doi: 10.1021/jacs.4c03194. Epub 2024 Apr 24.
The integration of next-generation electronics into society is rapidly reshaping our daily interactions and lifestyles, revolutionizing communication and engagement with the world. Future electronics promise stimuli-responsive features and enhanced biocompatibility, such as skin-like health monitors and sensors embedded in food packaging, transforming healthcare and reducing food waste. Imparting degradability may reduce the adverse environmental impact of next-generation electronics and lead to opportunities for environmental and health monitoring. While advancements have been made in producing degradable materials for encapsulants, substrates, and dielectrics, the availability of degradable conducting and semiconducting materials remains restricted. π-Conjugated polymers are promising candidates for the development of degradable conductors or semiconductors due to the ability to tune their stimuli-responsiveness, biocompatibility, and mechanical durability. This perspective highlights three design considerations: the selection of π-conjugated monomers, synthetic coupling strategies, and degradation of π-conjugated polymers, for generating π-conjugated materials for degradable electronics. We describe the current challenges with monomeric design and present options to circumvent these issues by highlighting biobased π-conjugated compounds with known degradation pathways and stable monomers that allow for chemically recyclable polymers. Next, we present coupling strategies that are compatible for the synthesis of degradable π-conjugated polymers, including direct arylation polymerization and enzymatic polymerization. Lastly, we discuss various modes of depolymerization and characterization techniques to enhance our comprehension of potential degradation byproducts formed during polymer cleavage. Our perspective considers these three design parameters in parallel rather than independently while having a targeted application in mind to accelerate the discovery of next-generation high-performance π-conjugated polymers for degradable organic electronics.
下一代电子产品融入社会正迅速重塑我们的日常互动和生活方式，彻底改变我们与世界的交流和参与方式。未来的电子产品有望具备刺激响应特性和更高的生物相容性，例如类似皮肤的健康监测器以及嵌入食品包装的传感器，从而变革医疗保健并减少食物浪费。赋予可降解性可能会减少下一代电子产品对环境的不利影响，并带来环境和健康监测的机会。虽然在生产用于密封剂、基板和电介质的可降解材料方面已取得进展，但可降解导电和半导体材料的可用性仍然有限。π共轭聚合物因其能够调节刺激响应性、生物相容性和机械耐久性，有望成为可降解导体或半导体的开发材料。本文强调了三个设计考量因素：π共轭单体的选择、合成偶联策略以及π共轭聚合物的降解，以生成用于可降解电子产品的π共轭材料。我们描述了单体设计目前面临的挑战，并通过突出具有已知降解途径的生物基π共轭化合物和可实现化学循环聚合物的稳定单体，提出规避这些问题的方案。接下来，我们介绍与可降解π共轭聚合物合成兼容的偶联策略，包括直接芳基化聚合和酶促聚合。最后，我们讨论各种解聚模式和表征技术，以加深我们对聚合物裂解过程中潜在降解副产物的理解。我们的观点同时考虑这三个设计参数而非独立考虑，同时牢记目标应用，以加速发现用于可降解有机电子产品的下一代高性能π共轭聚合物。
