Organic-inorganic conducting polymer hybrid with green color in neutral state

Abstract

The application of electrical stimuli can result in drastic changes in the chemical, electrical, optical and mechanical properties of conducting polymers. Thanks to these properties, these materials are used for making smart devices. Because of changing optical properties via electrochemical means, CPs can be used in smart windows and polymeric data storage devices. For synthesis desired polymers that used in these technological applications, design of monomer is so crucial [1,2]. A new monomer; O-2-(thiophen-3-yl)ethyl ferrocenyldithiophosphonate (ThFc) was synthesized and characterized. P(ThFc) films were synthesized electrochemically through the direct oxidation of ThFc in pure boron trifluoride diethyl etherate (BFEE). Under these conditions, BFEE serves not only as the solvent but also as the supporting electrolyte, and no other supporting electrolyte is needed. P(ThFc) has C-atoms in the main chain and contains inorganic elements in side groups connected to the organic network. The idea of this concept is to obtain a synergistic effect between inorganic and organic phases. P(ThFc) revealed color changes between green and blue in the neutral and oxidized states respectively. Having green color in neutral state is another interesting property of the polymer. Although many red and blue colored polymers in their neutral form have been reported, only a few reports are found in the literature of green colored conducting polymer because of the difficulty to obtain the absorptions required in the visible region to reflect the color green [3]. The optical properties, the absorption spectra and the kinetics of the polymer were examined. Spectroelectrochemical analysis showed that P(ThFc) has an electronic band gap (due to p-p* transition) of 2,23 eV at 418 nm. References:1- O. Turkaslan, M. Ak, C. Tanyeli, I. M. Akhmedov and L. Toppare, “J. Polym. Sci., Part:A Polym. Chem., 45(19), 2007, 4496-4503.2- M. Ak, B. Gacal, B. Kiskan, Y. Yagci, L. Toppare Polymer, 49(9), 2008, 2202-2210.3- G. Sonmez, C. K. F. Shen, Y. Rubin, F. Wudl, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2004, 43, 1497