Recent progress in polydiacetylene mechanochromism

Abstract

Polydiacetylenes (PDAs) are a family of mechanochromic polymers that change color from blue to red and emit fluorescence when exposed to external stimuli, making them extremely popular materials in biosensing. Although several informative reviews on PDA biosensing have been reported in the last few years, their mechanochromism, where external forces induce the color transition, has not been reviewed for a long time. This mini review summarizes recent progress in PDA mechanochromism, with a special focus on the quantitative and nanoscopic data that have emerged in recent years.