Polymer Electronics, Quo Vadis?

At the heart of polymer electronics lies more than three decades of research into conjugated polymers. The future of these materials is intimately tied to the development of organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices that can compete with traditional, inorganic devices in efficiency and cost. In addition to functioning as light-harvesting materials, polymers, conjugated or not, are increasingly being used at interfaces in thin-film OPV and other electronic devices, reprising the successes of poly(ethylenedioxythiophene)/poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT/PSS). The push toward more efficient OPV devices is moving chemists to think beyond band-gaps and toward charge, dielectric properties, and new synthetic methods.