The integration of plastic-like mechanical flexibility and metal-level electrical conductivity makes conducting polymer fibers (CPFs) find extensive uses, covering from lightweight conductors to wearable devices. Preceding conventional conductors, the additional combination of unique electrochemical activity and biocompatibility guides CPF to promise a new era of fibrous and textile electronics. Intriguing performance of CPFs roots in the intrinsic properties of conducting polymers, but is also highly related to the multilevel structures of chain aggregates. This fundamental structure-performance relationship deserves a deep discussion to understand the dramatically increasing achievements in both research and products. Herein, the latest research on CPFs is reviewed to introduce their classification, fabrication methods, and performance. Then, the structure-performance correlations of reported CPFs are presented to understand the dependence of overall properties on multilevel structures. Further, recent developments regarding the microstructural control and performance optimization of CPFs are discussed as well as their frontier applications in wearable systems, energy converters, and biological probes. Finally, existing challenges, possible solutions, and potential applications of CPFs are prospected. This review can provide helpful guidance for manufacturing ideally structured high-performance CPFs for advanced flexible electronics.
Zhu et al. (Sun,) studied this question.