Advantages and Research Progress of Polycarbonates in Flexible Electronic Devices
Zhiming Yu, Xigao Jian, Jinyan Wang, Xiaozhou Zhang, Shangru Zhai
Abstract
Since its inception, plastic has become an indispensable material in human production activities and daily life. Polycarbonate (PC), a high-performance engineering plastic, has emerged as one of the top five engineering plastics due to its outstanding comprehensive properties and is among the fastest-growing and most promising varieties. Polycarbonate is classified into petroleum-based and bio-based types. Bio-based polycarbonate serves as a sustainable alternative to petroleum-based polycarbonate, with core advantages including environmental friendliness and resource renewability. The rigid benzene ring structure in the polycarbonate molecular chain endows it with exceptional performance: it exhibits excellent impact resistance and high tensile strength, as well as low swelling rates, superior insulation, flame retardancy, and electrical properties. These characteristics make it highly promising for applications in flexible electronics, including flexible displays, smart wearable devices, and electronic skin. This paper provides a systematic review of research progress on polycarbonate in flexible electronic devices, focusing on three core areas: first, its applications and technological breakthroughs in key fields such as flexible substrates, functional composite materials, sensors, and packaging; second, modification methods for optimizing polycarbonate performance; third, based on the current research status, an outline of future key research directions, offering references for innovative development in related fields.