Dithienothiophene-based triphenylamine-containing branched copolymers for electrochromic applications

• Main Authors: Cho, Ching Mui, Neo, Wei Teng, Ye, Qun, Lu, Xuehong, Xu, Jianwei
• Other Authors: School of Materials Science & Engineering
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/98570; http://hdl.handle.net/10220/38606
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

A series of dithienothiophene-based electrochromic polymers are synthesized by a Stille coupling reaction of 2,6-bis(trimethylstannyl)dithieno[3,2-b:2′,3′-d]thiophene, 2,5-dibromo-3,4-bis(dodecyloxy)thiophene, and tris(4-bromophenylamine). The resulting polymers have high molecular weights in the range of 59 200 to 81 300 g mol−1, and good solubility in common organic solvents. The polymer films are purple/red in neutral states and gradually become gray when oxidized to an intermediate state and blue when fully oxidized. Incorporation of triphenylamine into the polymer chains has resulted in a significant increase in the redox stability, which renders this a potential method to create high-performance electrochromic polymers.