Recent Progress and Future Prospects in Transient Polymer Electronics

Abstract

Transient electronics is a rapidly growing field that focuses on the development of electronic materials that are intentionally degraded to environmentally and physiologically safe byproducts after a well-defined period of operation. The limited time frame of these materials makes them potential candidates for use in areas such as biomedicine and wearable electronics as well as mitigating the growing problem of electronic waste. Polymer-based transient electronics is attracting increasing interest due to its many advantages, including extensive chemical modification capabilities for transience and functionality, biocompatibility, and flexible and stretchable formats for electronics. In this Perspective, we discuss recent advances in the field of transient polymer electronics, highlighting existing strategies for degradation: the use of composites of biodegradable polymers with conducting polymers, the synthesis of copolymers/block copolymers or graft copolymers of conducting polymers with biodegradable polymers, the synthesis of fully (bio)degradable conjugated polymers with degradable conjugated linkers, and transience via dissolution of the conjugated polymers. We then highlight the applications of transient electronics based on conducting polymers. Finally, we provide an outlook on the future prospects in the field of transient polymer electronics and the challenges that need to be overcome for transient electronics to fulfill its promise in future electronic devices.