Tethered PProDOTs: conformationally restricted 3,4-propylenedioxythiophene based electroactive polymers

Abstract

Herein we report a complete family of conformationally restricted PProDOT derivatives with varying alkylene tether lengths. It was found that variation of the tether length and structure of the electropolymerizable monomer was successful in the fine-tuning of the electrochemical and optical properties of the subsequent material. It was found that the band gap of the materials could be varied between 1.94 and 2.26 eV, with the “sweet spot” for obtaining the maximum electronic band gap existing at the n = 6 tether length, while maintaining low redox potentials. It was also found that these polymers exhibited stable electrochromic behavior with colors varying from blue–purple to orange in their neutral states and transmissive in their doped states.