Recent progress in the design of conjugated polydiacetylenes with reversible thermochromic performance: a review

pi-conjugated polydiacetylenes (PDAs) have attracted enormous attention based on their unique structures and properties. With various external stimuli, the extensively delocalized enyne backbones of PDA chains can be disrupted, which leads to an obvious color transition from blue to red along with a change from a non-fluorescent to fluorescent nature, and the attractive optical properties make PDA an excellent smart material for the design of chemical or biological sensors. Recently, reversible colorimetric PDAs have gained increasing attention and can provide a deep understanding of the mechanism of PDAs with their tunable color change behavior. In this review, recent progress focusing on PDA materials with reversible colorimetric changes upon thermal treatment is briefly described. Rational strategies for developing reversible thermochromic properties and further development trends have also been discussed in this review.