Multifunctional high-mobility polymer semiconductors: design, synthesis and applications

Conjugated polymers play significant roles in organic electronic devices due to their adjustable chemical structures and unique optoelectronic properties. Carrier mobility, as a critical parameter in diverse electronic devices, has achieved fruitful improvements over the last decade. Apart from this, endowing high-mobility polymer semiconductors with additional characteristics, like mechanical, optical, thermal, and biocompatible properties, is expected to expand their usage scenarios and further realize cutting-edge applications. In this review, we first summarize the strategies for designing high-mobility semiconducting polymers. Then, traditional and innovative synthesis methodologies for delivering conjugated polymers are presented. Next, multifunctional high-mobility semiconducting polymers possessing intrinsic stretchability, intense photo-/electro-luminescence, efficient thermal-electric conversion, and environmentally friendly degradability are discussed in detail. Finally, current challenges and future prospects are concluded. By gaining in-depth understanding of the basic physicochemical characteristics of multifunctional polymer semiconductors and exploring their cutting-edge cross-disciplinary applications, these materials are expected to open new pathways for future artificial intelligence and smart manufacturing. Due to their unique optoelectronic properties and tunable chemical structures, polymer semiconductors play an important role in organic electronic devices.