This review systematically summarizes the latest advances in polymer processing techniques for thermoelectric applications and explores the intrinsic relationships among the processing methods, microstructure, and thermoelectric performance. Finally, future perspectives are presented for the industrialization of high-performance organic thermoelectric devices.

A highly crystalline polymer donor D18 is introduced as a buffer layer to mitigate solvent-induced erosion and swelling, thereby facilitating optimized vertical phase separation. This approach enables efficient PPHJ OSCs by promoting high-purity interfacial phases and ordered molecular packing for enhanced exciton dissociation and charge transport.

A four-armed diazo-based oligomer photo-crosslinker 2DPP4N₂ was synthesized and utilized for efficient patterning of semiconducting polymers. Various patterns with feature sizes as small as 6 μm were prepared after 254 nm UV irradiation for 160 s. The charge mobility of the patterned thin film was largely maintained.

Bisphosphonic acid-functionalized carbazole derivatives were synthesized and used to construct bilayer hole-transporting layers, providing a high efficiency of 19.44% and high thermal stability in organic solar cells.

This study introduces a plasticizer-assisted bar coating strategy for the scalable fabrication of high-performance stretchable conjugated polymer film. With reduced crystallinity, enhanced edge-on orientation and promoted chain alignment, the plasticizer-processed film shows significantly improved stretchability and charge mobilities under varying strains compared to the neat film.

An elastomer-doping strategy enabling flexible thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) polymers with small ΔE_ST (0.12–0.13 eV) and efficient reverse intersystem crossing (RISC) was reported. Film stretchability increased to 75%. PIDC2-based organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) achieved 14.26% external quantum efficiency (EQE), while stretchable devices maintained 60% efficiency at 25% strain.

By employing meta-linking strategy to enhance the contribution of the Se atom to the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) and to improve spin-orbit coupling, phenoselenazine-based conjugated polymers achieve bright room-temperature phosphorescence with phosphorescence quantum yields up to 21.4% in film states.

One-pot multicomponent polymerization enables the direct preparation of main-chain aggregation-induced emission (AIE) ionic polyelectrolytes with intrinsic AIE features from non-emissive monomers, which exhibit potent antimicrobial activity against bacteria and fungi.

Electropolymerized PEDOT:PSS hole-injection layers are realized via colloid-regulated micellar electropolymerization, enabling smooth morphology and tunable work function. Integrated into electrodeposited electrodeposited organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), they reduce turn-on voltage and deliver high efficiency (EQE=7.4%) with low roll-off, offering a spin-coating-free route for high-resolution electrodeposited displays.

The nonlinearity-stability trade-off was resolved through the incorporation of multiple ether chains and photo-crosslinking network, which not only lowered the energy barriers to promote molecular rotation during electric poling, but also allowed the subsequent formation of optimized chromophore alignment with high stability.

A series of TQ-based narrow-bandgap donor-acceptor conjugated polymers are reported, revealing the effect of chemical structure and intrinsic absorption of copolymer on the reverse-saturated absorption nonlinear optical properties, and achieving ultra-broadband optical limiting from visible to NIR-II region.

Aramid nanofibers are used to enhance the anti-swelling and mechanical properties of hydrogels.

A dual-filler strategy combining boron nitride and electrospun polymer nanofibers in a thermoplastic polyurethane matrix is developed to enhance thermal conductivity of 3D printing filaments without compromising mechanical strength or printability. The resulting filaments show improved heat conduction, retained insulation, and partially recovered tensile performance.

This study clarifies how different hindered amine light stabilizer (HALS) structures influence PBAT's weather resistance via combined structural characterizations and performance change analysis, proposes a rapid method for predicting HALS performance, and provides new ideas for the rational selection of HALS.

In this study, polybenzimidazolium derivatives with a flexible cationic backbone were designed and synthesized, which interacted with Chlorella pyrenoidosa and enhanced its photosynthetic efficiency. The strategy of constructing artificial photosynthetic biohybrid systems by combining energy-conversion materials with microorganisms provides an important approach for boosting photosynthesis and biomass synthesis.

This study investigates the synergistic effect of dicumyl peroxide (DCP) and maleic anhydride-grafted polyethylene (MAH-g-PE) on 4D printing performance of 70 wt%/30 wt% poly(lactic acid)/thermoplastic polyurethane (PLA/TPU) composites via L₉(3²) orthogonal design. The optimal formulation (0.5 wt% DCP+2 wt% MAH-g-PE) exhibits 98.8% shape fixation rate, fastest recovery, and balanced strength-ductility, providing a viable strategy for high-performance 4D printing materials.

A robust yet healable material is fabricated via ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) of commercial chelating norbornenes. The dynamic metal-ligand coordination crosslinks confer high stress and Shore hardness, while enabling efficient damage recovery. This simple strategy offers a new paradigm for designing durable and sustainable polymeric materials.

Demethylated dealkaline lignin (DDL) was used to prepare polyurethane followed by Fe³⁺ complexation to form DDL-Fe³⁺ complexes. This strategy significantly enhanced the photothermal performance of natural lignin. The resulting PU-DDL+Fe³⁺ polyurethane exhibits excellent NIR light-responsive shape memory performance with good mechanical properties and biocompatibility.

Aqueous-doped sodium carboxymethyl cellulose-based room-temperature phosphorescence materials exhibit ultralong lifetimes via rigid hydrogen-bond networks. Through triplet-to-singlet Förster resonance energy transfer with matched dyes, multicolor afterglow emissions are realized, enabling advanced information encryption applications of flexible and sustainable materials.

An injectable PEDOT@BEV hydrogel with dual redox/pH-responsiveness is developed for smart drug delivery. It shows rapid release under pathological cues of acidic/alkaline pH and ROS while remaining stable physiologically. It is effective in inhibiting angiogenesis in vitro and in corneal neovascularization model.

Continuous Ar/O₂/TMCTS atmospheric-pressure plasma treatment enables durable wettability of polyethylene separators. After 30 s treatment, the electrolyte diffusion area increases by 17.5-fold and remains over 14-fold after 90 days. Enhanced wettability leads to higher ionic conductivity and reduced charge-transfer resistance.

The incorporation of poly(propylene carbonate) (PPC) and uniaxial pre-stretching exhibited a synergistic effect, significantly enhancing the overall properties of polylactide (PLA) blends. The optimized ps-70/30 blend demonstrated an excellent balance of performance: tensile strength reached 84.5 MPa, elongation at break reached 115.1%, VST was 101.8 °C, and it exhibited good aging resistance.

A tailored machine-learning (ML) framework was developed to investigate the relationship of molecular structures of ionizable amphiphilic Janus dendrimers (IAJDs) and their mRNA delivery effects. Count-based fingerprints and ChemBERTa embeddings improve accuracy and interpretability, revealing key motifs and enabling ML-guided design and optimization of IAJDs for mRNA delivery.

All-atom molecular dynamics simulations reveal length-dependent nanopore transport and surface-induced unfolding of polyglutamine chains through graphene. Longer chains resist mechanical unfolding with higher force peaks and pulling energy, while slower pulling stabilizes translocation by reducing force fluctuations, providing molecular insight into polyQ conformational regulation.

Hydrazide-based nucleating agent (DBTA) outperforms amide analogs in promoting PLA crystallization. Simulations reveal that DBTA’s smaller electrostatic potential difference induces stronger intermolecular hydrogen bonds. This accelerates PLA chain ordering into gt conformations, achieving high crystallinity (58.4%) and a rapid crystallization time of 2.9 min.

A mussel-inspired interfacial regulation strategy was developed by designing a catechol- and thiol-containing tannic acid-based modifier (TM) agent that induces graphene oxide (GO) to self-assemble on natural rubber (NR) latex particles into a segregated network, while Eu³⁺ coordination synergistically reinforces the interface. This structure markedly promotes NR strain-induced crystallization and enhances mechanical, barrier, antibacterial, and chemical-resistant properties.