Search Results (1,411)

Six decades ago, the scientist from Stanford University, W.P. Little, announced a crusade to search for superconductivity, assumed to be heat-resistant in organic materials. Although such an ambitious goal was never realized in practice, this proposal gave rise to the entire ecosystem of studies on “synthetic metals,” creating a diverse community of material, experimental, and theoretical activities in low-dimensional electronic systems. We shall briefly review some key steps in this history, examine its main branches, and recall the consequences that remain on the agenda today. Particularly, we shall focus on a phenomenon of electronic ferroelectricity, whose roots can be found in the suggestion of a would-be superconducting polymer. Full article

Background/Objectives: Photodynamic therapy (PDT) relies on light activation of photosensitizers to generate reactive oxygen species for tumor ablation; however, limited tumor selectivity and systemic toxicity of free photosensitizers remain challenges. This study aimed to develop polymer-based nanotheranostics carrying tetraphenylporphyrin (TPPc) derivatives and to evaluate how linker structure impacts their performance. Methods: TPPc derivatives were covalently conjugated to N-(2-hydroxypropyl)methacrylamide (HPMA)-based polymers via either pH-sensitive hydrazone linkages (using aliphatic 5-hydroxy-2-pentanone or aromatic 1-(4-hydroxymethyl)phenyl)ethanone spacer) or stable amide bonds, forming amphiphilic polymer conjugates. The conjugates were characterized based on their physicochemical and in vitro and in vivo biological behavior. Results: Polymer conjugation reduced dark toxicity while preserving photodynamic activity. Linker structure influenced intracellular behavior and singlet oxygen production, with hydrazone systems showing faster activation-related responses under acidic conditions in vitro. All conjugates accumulated in tumors and induced significant tumor growth inhibition after irradiation at low doses (2.5 mg kg⁻¹ TPPc equivalent), while the amide-linked conjugate showed the strongest overall in vivo therapeutic effect, likely due to more favorable biodistribution and sustained delivery. Conclusions: The developed HPMA-based polymer–TPPc conjugates improve the therapeutic profile of photosensitizers by reducing toxicity and enabling effective PDT. These findings highlight the importance of linker design in balancing photosensitizer activation, circulation stability, and biodistribution, which together determine the overall therapeutic outcome. Full article

Background/Objective: In lung cancer treatment, increasing the concentration of antitumor drugs at the tumor site, enhancing efficacy, and reducing systemic toxicity are significant challenges. This study aims to develop an intelligent responsive polymer micelle system (GPDD) that achieves efficient accumulation and controlled release of drugs at lung tumor sites through targeted and pH-responsive design. Methods: The GPDD system is formed by the self-assembly of GE11-PEG-hyd-DOX conjugates and co-loads free DOX. This system utilizes the targeting effect of the GE11 peptide with the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) to accumulate at the tumor site, while the hydrazone bond serves as a pH-responsive linker that breaks in the acidic tumor microenvironment, triggering drug release. Experiments employed CCK-8 cytotoxicity assays and tumor-bearing nude mouse models (strain not specified) for in vitro and in vivo evaluations. Results: In vitro experiments showed that GE11-modified GPDD effectively inhibited tumor cell growth. In tumor-bearing nude mouse experiments, GPDD demonstrated more significant tumor suppression effects and lower systemic toxicity compared to free DOX and unmodified PDD. Conclusions: The GPDD nanocarrier integrates targeting and pH responsiveness, improving antitumor efficacy and reducing side effects, with translational potential. The novelty of the study lies in its dual-functional design and co-loading strategy, providing new insights for tumor-targeted delivery systems. Full article

To enhance the thermal decomposition properties of glycidyl azide polymer energetic thermoplastic elastomer (GAP-ETPE), the effects of nano-CuO supported on different carbon carriers (GO and CNT) were systematically investigated in this study. The structural characteristics and catalytic performances were comprehensively analyzed using XRD, Raman, XPS, UPS, BET, SEM, and TEM, coupled with thermal analysis techniques including TG-DSC and TG-MS. The results indicate that the catalytic performance follows the descending order of CuO/CNT > CuO/GO > CuO. Notably, CuO/CNT exhibits the optimal catalytic activity, advancing the exothermic peak temperature of the azide groups by approximately 33 °C and resulting in a more concentrated heat release process. The superior synergistic catalytic effect of CuO/CNT is attributed to the following: the three-dimensional network constructed by CNT effectively overcomes the agglomeration of CuO nanoparticles and the restacking defects typical of GO nanosheets, thereby significantly reducing the gas–solid mass transfer resistance. Simultaneously, the highly graphitized sp² conjugated skeleton of CNT provides an exceptional electron transport capability, facilitating rapid electron migration. These findings demonstrate that the structure of carbon supports profoundly influences the synergistic catalytic effect of CuO, offering valuable insights into the design of highly efficient catalysts for energetic binders. Full article

In the pursuit of sustainable and flexible electronics, polymer-based conductive films offer a promising solution due to their biodegradability, mechanical flexibility, and cost-effective fabrication. This study presents the development of a highly conductive and flexible nanocomposite material based on polyaniline-grafted chitosan (PANI-g-Chs) and Vinavil (Vi, a vinyl glue specifically designed for enhancing the sealability of textiles and paper), serving as a matrix for applications in flexible electronics. The PANI-g-Chs nanocomposite was synthesized via in situ oxidative polymerization, where chitosan nanoparticles (Chs) served as a stabilizing template to prevent PANI aggregation, reducing the particle size from 1700 nm (pristine PANI) to 180 nm (PANI-g-Chs). The resulting composite exhibited exceptional electrical conductivity (77.79 S/m at 25 wt% PANI-g-Chs). Hall effect measurements showed that the carrier mobility increased up to 1162.7 cm²/V·s and the carrier density rose to 6.5.1017 cm⁻³, confirming efficient charge transport and network formation. Mechanical analysis revealed a 300% increase in the storage modulus for PANI-g-Chs, and thermal studies confirmed stability up to 300 °C. Optical characterization showed a reduced bandgap (3.6 eV) and extended π-conjugation, which are critical for optoelectronic applications. Application tests demonstrated stable conductivity under mechanical deformation, highlighting the material’s potential for use in flexible electronics, sensors, and sustainable conductive coatings. This work offers a viable alternative to conventional conductive polymers. Full article

Serum contains diverse proteins whose concentrations vary with pathological conditions such as cancer, liver disease, neurological disorder, and infections. Conventional methods like serum protein electrophoresis (SPEP) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) are gold standards for protein identification; however, they are time-consuming and can miss abnormal serum protein levels. Inspired by chemical nose sensing based on selective sensor–analyte interactions, we synthesized five pyrene-conjugated fluorescent polymers (PFPs) with distinct side-chain head groups to construct a multichannel fluorescence sensor array. These polymers were screened for sensitivity to changes in serum protein levels using linear discriminant analysis (LDA), a machine learning method. This process led to the successful discovery of two PFPs that effectively detect protein level fluctuations. These PFPs provided a sensitive sensor array capable of generating a high-content response pattern (fingerprint) with six fluorescence channels. This sensor array successfully discriminated protein level fluctuations in serum with 98% jackknife classification accuracy and 95% unknown identification accuracy. This polymer sensor array holds strong potential as a diagnostic tool for serum-based samples and can be extended to other applications related to protein identification. Full article

Conjugated organic polymers are the cornerstone of modern organic electronics, yet accurate prediction of their properties remains a challenging task due to their synthetic complexity and high computational cost of quantum-chemical methods. Here, we develop a graph neural network based on the DimeNet++ direct message passing architecture to predict HOMO, LUMO and energy gaps of conjugated polymers directly from their 3D monomer structure. The model was pre-trained on TD-DFT-extrapolated data and trained on a limited dataset of experimentally measured properties. As a result, pre-training had significantly improved model’s accuracy compared to direct training (MAEs ~0.3 eV vs. 0.074 eV, 0.141 and 0.172 for HOMO/LUMO and energy gap, respectively). Pre-training on monomer DFT data did not provide comparable gains. The results demonstrate that polymer-relevant pre-training is critical for capturing structure–property relationships and enables accurate predictions without delta-learning or prior quantum-chemical calculations, facilitating efficient screening and rational design of conjugated polymers for organic optoelectronics. Full article

Biomaterials are engineered to interact with biological systems for therapeutic or diagnostic purposes. Among them, natural biomaterials offer important advantages over many synthetic polymers, including intrinsic biocompatibility, non-toxicity and biodegradability. Silk fibroin, a fibrous protein derived mainly from Bombyx mori cocoons, has re-emerged as a particularly versatile platform because it combines favourable mechanical, thermal, electrical and optical properties with aqueous processing and tuneable degradation. In this review, we first summarise the key structural, physicochemical and functional properties of regenerated silk fibroin, including its mechanical behaviour, thermal stability, dielectric and piezoelectric response, optical transparency and low autofluorescence. We then describe how extraction and regeneration protocols are used to produce defined material formats—fibres and nanofibrous mats, porous 3D scaffolds and hydrogels, sub-micron particles, thin films and microstructured devices—and outline major functionalisation strategies, ranging from physical blending and encapsulation to covalent chemistry, genetic engineering of recombinant silk variants, and enzyme-mediated conjugation approaches. Building on this foundation, we critically examine biomedical applications of silk fibroin with a particular emphasis on (i) hybrid silk–fluorophore systems for bioimaging and biosensing (nanodiamonds, quantum dots and organic dyes), (ii) optical fibre, wearable and edible sensors for health and food monitoring, (iii) wound dressings and wound-sensing platforms, and (iv) tissue engineering scaffolds and drug-delivery depots. Finally, we discuss current limitations, including process variability, the trade-offs introduced by blending and cross-linking, and the challenges posed by non-degradable inorganic fillers and clinical translation. Together, these perspectives highlight silk fibroin’s potential and constraints as a multifunctional biomaterial for next-generation biomedical devices and theranostic systems. Full article

Polymer–drug conjugates (PDCs) represent an advanced drug delivery strategy designed to address critical limitations of conventional therapeutics, including poor water solubility, rapid systemic clearance, and off-target toxicity. By covalently linking therapeutic agents to polymeric carriers through rationally designed linkers, PDCs enable improved pharmacokinetic profiles, enhanced stability, and controlled drug release. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the key design principles governing PDC systems, with a particular focus on the role of biofunctional polymers. Essential parameters for polymer selection, including biocompatibility, biodegradability, molecular weight, and functional group availability, are discussed in relation to their influence on drug loading, release kinetics, and biological performance. In addition, both natural and synthetic polymers are evaluated for their ability to improve solubility, modulate biodistribution, and reduce systemic toxicity. An overview of stimuli-responsive PDCs is provided, including pH-, redox-, and temperature-sensitive systems, which enable site-specific and spatiotemporally controlled drug release in response to pathological microenvironments. We emphasize the special role of bioactive polymers such as poly-lysine, hyaluronic acid, chitosan, and gelatin for their intrinsic biological activity, including receptor-mediated targeting, antimicrobial activity, and synergistic therapeutic effects. These properties support the development of dual-active conjugates with enhanced specificity and efficacy. Overall, this review underscores the transition of polymers from passive carriers to active therapeutic components and outlines current challenges and future perspectives for the clinical translation of next-generation PDCs. Full article

Narrowing the bandgap of wide-bandgap oxides and controlling defects are crucial ways of enhancing the properties of functional materials. One important way to develop multifunctional hybrids is to transform non-conjugated polymers into oxide nanocomposites. To expand the broad-spectrum applications of wide-bandgap oxides, ZnO-based nanocomposites were synthesised using cross-linking non-conjugated polymers via one-pot carbonisation. As polymer-derived nanocomposites exhibit significant scattering noise, the grain boundaries of the nanocomposites were filled using additives that have an electronic effect. Optimising the grain boundaries in this way significantly decreased the scattering noise, avoided large fluctuations in baseline current and enhanced the interfacial charge transfer in broadband light spectral regions. The electronic effects of the used additives can effectively passivate defects in the polymer-derived oxide nanocomposites’ aggregation state, improving photocurrent extraction. Even after storage at room temperature for two years, the optimised nanocomposite exhibited favourable photocurrent signals when excited using typical light sources at wavelengths of 650, 808, 980 and 1064 nm. This nanocomposite has potential applications in interdisciplinary fields involving light harvesting. This study provides a simple, environmentally friendly strategy to creating multifunctional hybrids using non-conjugated polymers as precursors. Full article

Donor–acceptor (D-A)-type conjugated porous polymers (CPPs) have emerged as highly competitive photocatalysts for aerobic oxidation reactions. Herein, we rationally design and synthesize a series of D-A structured photocatalysts by employing dibenzothiophene-S, S-dioxide (BTDO) as the acceptor unit, and 4,8-bis(thiophen-2-yl) benzo [1,2-b:4,5-b’] dithiophene (DBD) and pyrene (Py) as the donor units. The effects of acceptor content on the optoelectronic and photocatalytic properties are systematically investigated. With the gradual increase in BTDO proportion and the decrease in pyrene content, the photocatalysts exhibit gradually narrowed band gaps, significantly promoted charge separation efficiency, and broadened visible light absorption range. Among the five as-prepared photocatalysts, DBD-T displays superior catalytic performance toward blue light-driven aerobic oxidation. Under mild conditions, benzyl sulfide and benzyl amine are selectively converted into benzyl sulfoxide and benzyl imine with a high conversion efficiency up to 96%. Moreover, DBD-T shows good universality toward a wide range of substrates, together with excellent recyclability and long-term stability. This work demonstrates that enhancing the electron-withdrawing capability of the acceptor unit represents a feasible and effective strategy to boost the photocatalytic performance of D-A-type conjugated polymers. Full article

Circularly polarized (CP) organic light-emitting diodes (CP-OLEDs) have attracted considerable attention due to their promising applications in next-generation display systems, optical data transmission, and quantum computing, and their potential roles in medical devices. Achieving efficient and tunable CP emission remains a significant challenge, prompting the development of various strategies that leverage organic semiconductors. Notably, certain classes of materials now consistently deliver CP polarization at levels suitable for technological applications. Among these, conjugated polymers, particularly the copolymer poly(9,9-dialkylfluorene-alt-benzothiadiazole) (PFBT), stand out for their exceptional optoelectronic properties, ease of processing, and adaptability to produce CP emission. PFBT has played diverse roles within CP-OLED devices, enabling innovative architectural solutions. This review explores principal strategies for integrating PFBT into CP-OLED architectures, drawing upon findings from the recent scientific literature. By consolidating current knowledge and identifying unresolved issues, this work aims to inspire further research into the development of solution-processable, high-performance and tunable CP-OLEDs based on PFBT and conjugated polymers in general. Full article

Polymeric hole-transport materials (HTMs) play a pivotal role in improving the efficiency, stability, and scalability of perovskite solar cells (PSCs). Owing to their structural tunability, polymeric HTMs enable effective control over energy-level alignment, charge transport, interfacial interactions, and film formation. This review summarizes recent advances in polymeric HTMs, including conjugated-backbone polymers, donor–acceptor (D–A) copolymers, and emerging architectures such as hyperbranched, ionic, chelating, and anchorable polymer systems. Particular emphasis is placed on structure–property–performance relationships and interfacial engineering strategies that govern device efficiency and long-term operational stability in PSCs. Finally, the key challenges and future directions for developing scalable and robust polymeric HTMs are discussed. Full article

A hybrid material based on the copolymerization of EDOT (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) and Py (pyrrole), 1:1 monomer ratio, onto multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) was synthesized through a multistep functionalization approach. The resulting P(EDOT-co-Py)@MWCNT hybrid, poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene-co-pyrrol)@MWCNT hybrid, was characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). These characterizations confirmed the successive functionalization steps, the effective anchoring of the monomers, and the subsequent formation of the copolymer. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images revealed a homogeneous polymer coating along the nanotube surface while preserving the structural integrity of the MWCNTs throughout the functionalization and polymerization processes. The P(EDOT-co-Py)@MWCNT hybrid was evaluated as an active electrode material for aluminum-ion storage in an aqueous aluminum sulfate electrolyte. The system exhibited two distinct charge-storage mechanisms: at high current densities, proton surface adsorption dominated, whereas at lower rates, a faradaic contribution associated with polymer chain redox activity and the reversible extraction/insertion of Al³⁺ became prevalent. The hybrid electrode delivered high specific capacities, reaching 200.6, 106.3, and 44.3 mAh g⁻¹ at 0.10, 0.25, and 0.50 A g⁻¹, respectively. These values are comparable to—or even exceed—those reported for similar cathodic materials designed for Al³⁺ storage, highlighting P(EDOT-co-Py)@MWCNT hybrid as a highly promising cathode candidate for aqueous aluminum-ion energy-storage systems. Full article

Metal-free two-dimensional (2D) polymers built from open-shell π-conjugated units offer a promising platform for realizing correlation-driven magnetism without transition metal elements. Here, we present a systematic first-principles study of phenalenyl-based 2D polymers that elucidates how atomic-level chemical substitution controls magnetic order through the interplay of electronic correlation and sublattice symmetry. Combining density functional theory with an effective tight-binding and Hubbard model analysis, we show that atomic substitution with boron or nitrogen on phenalenyl building blocks acts as a sublattice-resolved tuning knob for both the ratio of on-site Coulomb interaction to inter-site hopping (U/t) and the relative on-site energies of the two sublattices. Sublattice-asymmetric substitution with boron or nitrogen breaks sublattice equivalence and drives the system from an antiferromagnetic Mott-insulating state into spin-polarized semiconducting phases with pronounced spin-dependent gaps. In contrast, uniform substitution on both sublattices preserves symmetry and yields nonmagnetic metallic states characterized by rigid band shifts rather than correlation-driven spin polarization. These results establish a unified microscopic framework in which electronic correlations and sublattice symmetry emerge as cooperative yet independently tunable parameters, providing general design principles for metal-free 2D π-conjugated materials with tailored magnetic and spintronic functionalities. Full article