Electrochromic enhancement of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) films functionalized with hydroxymethyl and ethylene oxide

Significance Statement

  Without any hesitation one of the most important advances in electrochromic polymers was the synthesis of PEDOT and its derivatives because of their low oxidation potentials, high coloration efficiency, and their excellent stability, which make them good candidates in a wide range of application areas, such as smart windows, color displays, and camouflage materials. Most recently, in China, Xu and Lu et al took advantage of this fact and prepared a 2-(methoxymethyl)oxiraneyl (MO)-functionalized EDOT-MO via the reaction of epichlorohydrin with hydroxymethylated-3,4-ethylenedioxylthiophene (EDOT-MeOH), and its electropolymerization led to the facile deposition of highly stable conducting polymer. Further investigation demonstrated that the obtained polymer displayed amazing optoelectronic properties, such as outstanding electroactivity and stability, electrochromic nature with color changing from dark blue in the reduced state to purple, transparent gray, and transparent sky blue upon oxidation. Electrochromic kinetic studies showed that the polymer revealed decent contrast ratio, favorable coloration efficiency, low switching voltage, fast response time, excellent stability and color persistence, holding promise for electrochromic devices and display applications. Clearly, PEDOT-MO exhibited superior electrochromic performance than previously reported acrylate and methacrylate modified PEDOT, such as higher optical contrast ratio, higher color efficiency and lower switching potential, which hold promise for electrochromic devices and display applications.      

 

 

Electrochromic enhancement of poly 3 -4-ethylenedioxythiophene films functionalized with hydroxymethyl and ethylene oxide

Journal Reference

Journal of Polymer Science Part A: Polymer Chemistry, Volume 52, Issue 14, pages 1989–1999,  2014.

Shimin Zhang, Jingkun Xu*, Baoyang Lu*, Leiqiang Qin, Long Zhang, Shijie Zhen and Daize Mo.
Jiangxi Key Laboratory of Organic Chemistry, Jiangxi Science and Technology Normal University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, People’s Republic of China.

ABSTRACT

2-((2,3-Dihydrothieno[3,4-b]dioxin-2-yl)methoxy)methyl oxirane (EDOT-MO) was successfully synthesized by the reaction of epichlorohydrin with hydroxymethylated-3,4-ethylenedioxylthiophene (EDOT-MeOH), which was synthesized via a simple four-step sequence. Poly(hydroxymethylated-3,4-ethylenedioxylthiophene) (PEDOT-MeOH) and poly(2-((2,3-dihydrothieno[3,4-b]dioxin-2-yl)methoxy)methyl oxirane) (PEDOT-MO) were electrosynthesized through electropolymerization of EDOT-MeOH and EDOT-MO, respectively. Structural, electrochemical, optical, and thermal properties of as-formed polymers were investigated by FTIR, cyclic voltammetry, UV–vis, and thermogravimetry. Spectroelectrochemistry studies demonstrated that PEDOT-MeOH and PEDOT-MO could be reversibly oxidized and reduced accompany with obvious color changes. Further kinetic studies demonstrated that the introduction of hydroxymethyl or ethylene oxide group significantly improved electrochromic properties of 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene (PEDOT) and resulted in high contrast ratios (57.3% at 585 nm) and coloration efficiencies (338.5 cm2 C−1), low switching voltages, and fast response time. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals,

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