Recent Advances in Conducting Polymer Films and Coatings: Applications in Optoelectronics, Solar Cells, Electrochromics, and Biosensors

Dear Colleagues,

The breakthrough achieved by Shirakawa, MacDiarmid, and Heeger in 1977 changed our understanding of organic polymers, from insulating plastics to conductors. Conducting polymers (CPs) are a class of polymers with innate electrical conductivity coupled with exceptional electrical and mechanical properties. Recent years have seen significant progress in conductive polymer research, with applications ranging from optoelectronics to materials science. With their low cost, low density, mechanical flexibility, and ease of processing, conjugated polymers are promising for electronic applications, electro-optical applications (e.g., flexible transistors), and electro-chemical applications (e.g., chemical and biochemical sensors). Finding new, essential lines of inquiry in this research area requires novel polymer synthesis methods, chiral-based systems, and streamlined device fabrication strategies. Additionally, using peptide modifications in organic materials offers a new viable strategy to enhance their biocompatibility and promote bioreceptor targeting behavior. The combination of peptides with conducting polymers (CPs) has gained considerable attention in this regard.

Thus, we would like to invite you to submit research articles and review papers related to conducting polymer and peptide chemistry and the engineering required for their fabrication. The theme of this Special Issue is “New Frontiers in Conducting Polymer Films and Coatings: Applications in Optoelectronics, Solar Cells, Electrochromics and Biosensors’’.

Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Conducting polymers;
• Novel methods of their synthesis and development;
• The theoretical and computational modeling of the properties of conducting polymers;
• Characterization techniques for their electronic applications;
• Chiral polymer photonics;
• Chiral sidechain or peptide-integrated conducting polymers;
• Electrochemical systems based on conducting polymers.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Jojo P. Joseph
Dr. Sonal Gupta
Dr. Ashmeet Singh
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Coatings is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• conducting polymers
• flexible electronics
• optoelectronics
• chiral photonics
• electrochromic conducting polymers
• conducting peptides