Selective electrocatalysts are urgently needed for carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction to replace fossil fuels with renewable fuels, thereby closing the carbon cycle. To date, noble metals have achieved the best performance in energy yield and faradaic efficiency and have recently reached impressive electrical-to-chemical power conversion efficiencies. However, the scarcity of precious metals makes ...

Electron-conductive polymers were first reported in 1971 by Shirakawa and co-workers [1]. They synthesized conducting polyacetylene and found that it had a considerably high conductivity relative to other organic compounds, 10 S cm 1 [1–3]. Since 1971, various conducting polymers and their synthesis mechanisms have been studied actively by many researchers [4]. The conductivities of these polym...

Electrostatic clutching offers lightweight, energy-efficient, and fast controllable force transmission for exoskeletons and walking robots. Clutching is achieved by charging two electrically-conductive clutch plates with micrometerscale thickness separated by a thin dielectric insulating layer. Because the clutch acts like a capacitor, power is only required while changing states, not to mainta...

Here we describe a class of electric-conducting polymers that conduct electrons via the side chain π-π stacking. These polymers can be designed and synthesized with different chemical moieties to perform different functions, extremely suitable as a conductive polymer binder for lithium battery electrodes. A class of methacrylate polymers based on a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon side moiety, p...

The disintegration of transient electronic systems after a preprogrammed time or a particular stimulus (e.g., water, light, or temperature) is fundamentally linked to the properties and behavior of the materials used for their construction. Herein, we demonstrate that polymers exhibiting lower critical solution temperature (LCST) behavior can work as thermoresponsive substrates for circuitry an...

The research on electro-conductive membranes has expanded in recent years. These membranes have strong prospective as key components in next generation water treatment plants because they are engineered in order to enhance their performance in terms of separation, flux, fouling potential, and permselectivity. The present review summarizes recent developments in the preparation of electro-conduc...

Additive manufacturing, or three-dimensional (3D) printing, offers a unique solution for fabricating complex geometries with high tolerances. Currently, many commercial additive manufacturing machines focus on the printing of polymers limited functionalities. However, conductive (CPs) can be processed to enable conductive, low-density, and low-cost parts myriad applications. This review summari...

This chapter covers the potentially important conductive polymers and their benefits with effective relevance in number of growing technologies in telecommunication, biomolecular electronics, display devices, electrochemical storage systems, and many more. The most widely investigated polymers in practical applications are polythiophene (PTh), polypyrrole (PPy), and polyaniline (PANI). These po...

Thermoelectric plastics are a class of polymer-based materials that combine the ability to directly convert heat to electricity, and vice versa, with ease of processing. Potential applications include waste heat recovery, spot cooling and miniature power sources for autonomous electronics. Recent progress has led to surging interest in organic thermoelectrics. This tutorial review discusses the...