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Conjugated polymers are a unique class of soft matter that supports electronic, ionic, and optical signal transduction. These unique properties and operation as hydrated, deformable, and biocompatible materials make them ideal candidates for sensors, imaging agents, and semiconducting interfaces within biological environments. In this talk, I will explore how molecular design and ordering across length scales govern two key properties central to emerging bioelectronic applications: mixed ionic/electronic transport and near-infrared (NIR) emission. First, I will discuss the current state of mixed conduction in organic materials and how polymer architecture, molecular weight, and network formation modulate transport pathways. I will highlight our recent investigations on the role of polymer molecular weight and the development of electrochemical tools to decouple ionic and electronic contributions, both of which reveal design rules for high-performance mixed
conductors. Subsequently, I will outline the challenge of generating efficient NIR emission through the lens of the energy gap law; strategies to overcome this limitation, including aggregation control and backbone engineering, will be discussed, drawing on our recent development of conjugated polymers that exhibit rare NIR emission and aggregation-induced behavior. Together, these perspectives show how electronic structure and polymer morphology can be designed to create soft, adaptive conjugated materials capable of both transporting charge and generating NIR emission, laying the foundation for multifunctional bioelectronic soft matter.