Polymer Electronics: Materials, Device Physics, Processing Technologies, Applications, and Emerging Trends

Abstract

Polymer electronics has developed from the early study of electrically conducting plastics into a broad materials and device platform encompassing conjugated semiconductors, intrinsically conducting polymers, polymer dielectrics, ionic conductors, electroactive polymers and multifunctional polymer nanocomposites. Its technological value comes from combining electronic or electrochemical functionality with low density, mechanical compliance, chemical tunability, solution processability and compatibility with low-temperature or large-area manufacturing. This chapter provides a research-oriented review of polymer electronics, covering molecular structure, doping, charge and ion transport, morphology, interfaces, fabrication, device physics, reliability and applications. Particular attention is given to PEDOT:PSS, polyaniline, polypyrrole, P3HT, donor–acceptor conjugated polymers, polymer dielectrics and organic mixed ionic– electronic conductors. Major devices—including organic field- effect transistors, organic electrochemical transistors, polymer light- emitting devices, organic photovoltaics, thermoelectric generators, sensors, memories and soft bioelectronic interfaces—are compared using representative performance metrics. Mathematical relationships for conductivity, field-effect transport, OECT transconductance, photovoltaic conversion, thermoelectric performance and strain sensing are introduced. Recent literature from 2020–2026 is synthesized to identify trends in flexible and wearable electronics, biointegration, printed manufacturing, neuromorphic computing, sustainability and molecularly engineered polymer semiconductors. The analysis shows that future progress will depend less on maximizing a single material property and more on co-optimizing molecular structure, film morphology, contacts, mechanics, packaging, process variability and system requirements. Major unresolved issues include long-term environmental stability, n-type transport, device-to-device variation, scalable patterning, reliable encapsulation, sustainable materials processing and end-of-life management. The chapter proposes a materials-to-system research framework that can guide experimental studies and technology translation.