Fully degradable and stretchable semiconducting polymers for transient electronics

Electronics that can be stretched and feature skin-inspired functionalities are opening doors for opportunities in health and environmental monitoring, sustainability, and next-generation consumer products. Degradability is an important attribute for applications on dynamic surfaces where manual recovery would be logistically or financially unpractical. A key step to realize such electronics is the development of a stretchable and degradable transistor with electrical performance independent of large mechanical stress. Herein, we decouple the design of stretchability and transience by harmonizing polymer physics principles and molecular design in order to demonstrate for the first time a material that simultaneously possesses three disparate attributes: semiconductivity, intrinsic stretchability, and full degradability. This polymeric system represents a promising advance towards developing multifunctional materials for skin-inspired electronics.