Conjugated polymer-based fibers: synthesis, properties, and applications

The discovery of the conjugated polymers (CPs) is regarded as a revolutionary scientific invention in the field of material engineering and nanotechnology. The researchers have been becoming interested in CPs for decades because of their economic significance, superior workability, lightweight, extraordinary stability, corrosion resistance, and good electrical conductivity. CPs have various applications in batteries (rechargeable), light-transmitting devices, electrochromic display appliances, electrode materials in electrochemical supercapacitors, smart textiles, nanoscale field-effect transistors (nano-FETs), ambipolar FETs, colorimetric sensors, gas sensors, drug-releasing agents, electrical storage devices, solar cells, lasers, light-emitting appliances for full-color screens polymeric light-emitting diodes, photovoltaic cells, transistors, electromagnetic shield materials, and electronic circuits. This chapter discusses fundamental aspects of CPs, particularly definitions, types, significance, synthetic techniques, properties, and practical applications in some of the above-mentioned fields followed by current exploitation in demanding situations and future scope to conclude the chapter.