K. Nawa et al., SYNTHESIS OF A NOVEL TYPE OF ELECTROCHEMICALLY DOPED VINYL POLYMER CONTAINING PENDANT TERTHIOPHENE AND ITS ELECTRICAL AND ELECTROCHROMIC PROPERTIES, Macromolecules, 28(3), 1995, pp. 723-729
A novel kind of electrochemically doped poly(5-vinyl-2,2':5',2''-terth
iophene) has been prepared by electrochemical doping of poly(5-vinyl-2
,2':5',2''-terthiophene) and by electrolytic polymerization of 5-vinyl
-2,2':5',2''-terthiophene in the presence of tetra-n-butylammonium per
chlorate as a supporting electrolyte. The electrochemically doped poly
(5-vinyl-2,2':5',2''-terthiophene), obtained as bluish purple lustrous
films, is identified as a partially oxidized radical-cation salt with
ClO4- as a dopant, having a partially cross-linked structure due to t
he coupling reaction of the radical cation of the pendant terthiophene
moiety. The polymer with a degree of doping of 45% exhibits a room-te
mperature conductivity of 2 x 10(-8) S cm(-1) with an activation energ
y of 0.5 eV. The polymer undergoes a reversible clear color change fro
m bluish purple to pale yellowish orange and vice versa on electrochem
ical dedoping and doping and functions as a novel class of potential e
lectrochromic material.