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Breakthrough in Conjugated Polymer Fibers Paves Way for Wearable Electronics

Strategic Insights

— 1 min read

Researchers from Donghua University in Shanghai, People's Republic of China, have made significant progress in developing high-performance and mechanically robust conjugated polymer fibers for wearable electronics. The team introduced a novel shear-intensified hybridization (SIH) via additive engineering strategy to enhance poly(benzimidazobenzophenanthroline) (BBL) fibers. This innovative approach leverages fluid shear during wet spinning with the precisely engineered incorporation of graphene oxide nanosheets, leading to exceptional molecular orientation, enhanced pi-pi stacking, and strengthened interfacial interactions within the BBL/FG hybrid system.

Key Takeaways:

  • The researchers developed a novel SIH mechanism enabled by additive engineering, resulting in exceptional molecular orientation, enhanced pi-pi stacking, and strengthened interfacial interactions within the BBL/FG hybrid system.
  • The optimized BBL/FG fibers exhibited a tensile strength of 208 MPa, showing excellent practical application potential for wearable electronics.
  • OECTs fabricated from the hybrid fibers demonstrated a 54% increase in normalized transconductance and a 45% enhancement in carrier mobility over pristine BBL fiber devices.
  • An all-fiber complementary inverter built on these OECTs achieved a high gain of 86 V/V for fiber electronics and successfully amplified weak physiological signals.
  • The research elucidated the SIH mechanism enabled by additive engineering and established a robust platform for high-performance all-fiber semiconducting circuits.
  • The study was supported by the Sichuan Science and Technology Program.

Statistics:

  • 208 MPa: Tensile strength of optimized BBL/FG fibers
  • 54%: Increase in normalized transconductance of OECTs fabricated from hybrid fibers
  • 45%: Enhancement in carrier mobility of OECTs fabricated from hybrid fibers
  • 86 V/V: Gain of all-fiber complementary inverter built on OECTs

Sources:

  • Shear-intensified Hybridization of Conjugated Polymer Fibers for Organic Electrochemical Transistors. Advanced Functional Materials, 2025.
  • VerticalNews, Journal of Engineering, October 20, 2025, p 1518.
  • Advanced Functional Materials can be contacted at: Wiley-v C H Verlag Gmbh, Postfach 101161, 69451 Weinheim, Germany.
  • Donghua University, College of Materials Science and Engineering, State Key Lab Adv Fiber Mat, Shanghai 201620, People's Republic of China.

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