Electrochromic conducting polymers via electrochemical polymerization of bis(2-(3,4-ethylenedioxy)thienyl) monomers

A series of bis(2-(3,4-ethylenedioxy)thiophene)-base monomers have been synthesized and fully characterized; specifically (E)-1,2-bis(2-(3,4-ethylenedioxy)thienyl)vinylene (BEDOT-V), 1,4-bis(2-(3,4-ethylenedioxy)thienyl)benzene (BEDOT-B), 4,4'-bis(2-(3,4-ethylenedioxy)thienyl)biphenyl (BEDOT-BP), 2,5-bis(2-(3,4-ethylenedioxy)thienyl)furan (BEDOT-F), 2,5-bis(2-(3,4-ethylenedioxy)thienyl)-thiophene (BEDOT-T), and 2,2':5',2''-ter(3,4-ethylenedioxy)thiophene, TER-EDOT. The X-ray crystal structures of BEDOT-V and BEDOT-B have been determined. These monomers oxidize and polymerize at low potentials relative to other reported electropolymerizable heterocycles. The electroactive polymers formed exhibit low redox switching potentials and are quite stable in the conducting state. TER-EDOT was found to have the lowest peak oxidation potential of +0.2 V vs Ag/Ag+, making it the most easily oxidized polymerizable thiophene monomer reported. The electronic bandgaps of these EDOT based polymers range from 1.4 to 2.3 eV (measured as the onset of the pi-pi* transition) offering a diverse range of colors which may prove useful in electrochromic devices. For example, poly(BEDOT-V) is deep purple and opaque in the reduced state and transmissive sky blue in the oxidized state, poly(BEDOT-T) is deep blue opaque in the reduced state and transmissive blue in the oxidized state, while poly(BEDOT-BP) is transmissive orange in the reduced state and opaque purple in the oxidized state. A thin film of poly(BEDOT-V) was found to switch rapidly between redox states (under 2 s) with an initial optical contrast of 43%. This polymer was found to retain 47% of its optical contrast and 48% of its original charge density after 600 double potential steps.