Polydiacetylenes: supramolecular smart materials with a structural hierarchy for sensing, imaging and display applications

Abstract

While a large variety of conjugated polymers exist, polydiacetylenes (PDAs) remain a major research area among scientists due to their interesting optical, spectral, electronic, and structural properties. Heavily reviewed in regards to their stimuli responsive properties, much is known about the assortment of sensing and detection capabilities of PDAs. In this article, we look more upon the structural diversities of polydiacetylenes that have been achieved in recent years, particularly from a hierarchical perspective of 1, 2, and 3-dimensional configurations. In addition, we examine how these different dimensional arrangements of PDAs have heralded clear applications in several key areas. Successful integration of these stimuli-responsive "smart" materials into various geometries has required researchers to have a comprehensive understanding of both the fabrication and synthesis processes, as well as the signalling mechanism for the optical, fluorogenic or spectral transitions. The on-going discovery of new PDA formulations continues to provide interesting structural manifestations such as liposomes, tubes, fibres, organic/inorganic incorporated hybrids and composite structures. By highlighting some of the recent conceptual and technological developments, we hope to provide a measure of the current pace in new PDA derivative development as core components in efficient sensor, imaging and display systems.

Ultrafast and reversible thermochromism of a conjugated polymer material based on the assembly of peptide amphiphiles

“…2,3 The chromatic transition of PDA can be directly detected by the naked eye, enabling a broad spectrum of optoelectronic and sensing applications. [4][5][6][7][8][9] However, the available PDA materials oen suffer from a slow response time (tens of seconds to minutes), low reversibility (tens of cycles or even irreversible), a narrow working temperature range (less than 90 C without the introduction of inorganic components) and poor mechanical properties, mainly due to the relatively low structural regularity and strength of molecular interactions. Based on the same reasons, the available chromatic polymers have generally been made into powders or lms, and it remains challenging to achieve continuous bres that are required for wearable electronics, which are a promising direction in sensing applications.…”

Distinct Short‐Range Order Is Inherent to Small Amorphous Calcium Carbonate Clusters (<2 nm)

“…As the diacetylene group of PCDA is easily polymerized by light irradiation, [25] it is essential to know whether the PCDA monolayer polymerizes during reaction and posttreat ment. The similarity between the UV/Vis absorption of ACC clusters and PCDA in hexane (Figure 2 a) shows that the PCDA chains in the ACC clusters are still in their monomeric form after binding on the CaCO 3 core.…”

Hydrogels from Amorphous Calcium Carbonate and Polyacrylic Acid: Bio‐Inspired Materials for “Mineral Plastics”

“…Upon heating, an irreversible color change from blue to red occurs as a result of the disruption of the planar conjugated structure. [34] We tested the ability of our ACC/PAA hydrogel and film as a matrix for colorimetric materials. Transparent ACC/PAA/PCDA hybrid films were fabricated by incorporating PCDA vesicles into the ACC/ PAA hydrogel.…”