Transient Degradable Electronics Enabled by Systems of Conducting Polymers and Natural Biopolymers

Abstract

Transient electronics hold great promise for reducing electronic waste and enabling advanced biomedical and environmental technologies. Achieving this requires conductive materials that combine reliable electrical performance with controlled degradability. Conducting polymer-biopolymer (CP-biopolymer) systems uniquely address this need by pairing the electroactivity of CPs with the inherent biodegradability, biocompatibility and functional versatility of natural polymers. Polysaccharides, polypeptides and polyphenols provide abundant functional groups for modification, crosslinking and grafting with CPs, while some, such as chitosan, also impart antibacterial activity. Transient CP-biopolymer systems have been reported in four main formats: blends, multilayer structures, hydrogels, and graft copolymers, each offering strategies to balance conductivity, processability and degradation. This review highlights recent progress in material design, outlines degradation pathways ranging from matrix to network disintegration, and surveys applications in neural interfaces, tissue engineering and skin-mounted sensors. Despite substantial progress, advancing transient CP - biopolymer systems toward next-generation implantable electronics will require deeper insight into their degradation mechanisms and associated immune responses, along with improved electrical stability, enhanced mechanical performance and scalable fabrication strategies. Critically, this progress must be accompanied by the development of novel chemistries that render conducting polymers intrinsically degradable.