Manipulating Self-Healing Properties in Organic Semiconductors through Supramolecular Chemistry

Material degradation poses a significant concern for both material scientists and engineers, leading to costly repair efforts and more extensive consequences than mere failure. As a result, there is a growing interest in developing self-healing materials to eliminate the need for maintenance. In contrast to their inorganic semiconductor counterparts, organic semiconducting materials possess notably low Young's moduli, making them exceptionally well-suited for integration into wearable electronic devices that can be directly applied to the human skin [1]. However, wearable electronics are exposed to a myriad of environmental stressors, including mechanical wear, chemical exposure, temperature fluctuations, and radiation. The relentless impact of these stressors can lead to the deterioration of the chemical structure, ultimately resulting in the degradation and eventual loss of the material's physical properties.<br/>Within this context, we will delve into our strategic approach to mitigating the loss of physical properties through the development of intrinsically self-healing polymers. This significant achievement was made possible by harnessing the principles of supramolecular chemistry, with a particular emphasis on the utilization of intramolecular hydrogen bonds [2-4]. To gain a comprehensive understanding of how hydrogen bonding affects the viscoelastic and electrical characteristics of organic semiconductors, we devised two distinct material sets. The first consists of a conjugated polymer with integrated hydrogen bonding functionality, while the second involves a composite material comprising a conjugated polymer embedded within a self-healing polysiloxane matrix.<br/>Our discussion will comprehensively cover the effects of these distinct approaches on charge transport and self-healing capabilities. Furthermore, we will outline how we can leverage the observed disparities to not only customize the electronic properties but also fine-tune the self-healing and mechanical attributes of the material to align with the specific demands of diverse applications.<br/> <br/>[1] J. Y. Oh & Z. Bao, <i>Adv. Sci.</i>, <b>6</b>, 1900186 (2019).<br/>[2] J. Y. Oh <i>et al.</i>, <i>Nature</i>, <b>539</b>, 411-415 (2016, 539).<br/>[3] A. Gasperini <i>et al.</i>, <i>Macromolecules</i>, <b>52</b>, 2476-2486 (2019).<br/>[4] J. Ma <i>et al.</i>, <i>Nature Comm.</i>, <b>12</b>, 5210 (2021).