Application of terpyridyl ligands to tune the optical and electrochemical properties of a conducting polymer

• Main Authors: Lisak, Grzegorz, Wagner, Klaudia, Barnsley, Jonathan E., Veksha, Andrei, Huff, Gregory, Elliott, Anastasia B. S., Wagner, Paweł, Gordon, Keith C., Bobacka, Johan, Wallace, Gordon G., Ivaska, Ari, Officer, David L.
• Other Authors: School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2019
• Subjects: Polymers; Engineering::Environmental engineering; Terpyridyl Ligands
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/106354; http://hdl.handle.net/10220/49582; http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/C8RA05333B
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

We present a simple and effective way of using metal and metal–ligand modifications to tune the electrochemical and optical properties of conducting polymers. To that end, a polyterthiophene functionalized with terpyridine moieties was synthesized and then the resulting film's surface or bulk was modified with different metal ions, namely Fe2+, Zn2+ and Cu2+ and terpyridine. The modification of the terpyridine functionalized polyterthiophene film by Fe2+ increased the absorptivity and electrochemical capacitance of the conducting polymer, and improved its conjugation. Further modification by Zn2+ and Cu2+ resulted in dramatically different spectroelectrochemical properties of the film. Moreover, the influence of the solvents (ACN and 1 : 1 ACN : H2O) in conjunction with the metal ion applied for the modification was found crucial for the electrochemical and optical properties of the films.