The Electropolymerization and Characterizations of Fluorescent Dye Doped Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)

Abstract

The electrochromic properties of an electrochemical polymerized composite consisted of poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) doped with fluorescent yellow dye (PEDOT-FY) are reported. The structures of PEDOT-FY were characterized via cycle voltammograms, spectroelectrochemistry and colorimetric analysis. Film of the PEDOT-FY composites with different FY concentrations appears multi-color changes, such as blue violet↔brillant blue, aubergine↔blue grey, magenta↔ aquamarine blue, orange-yellow↔grass-green, claybank↔moss green in the neutral state and the oxidized state respectively, which are different from the pure PEDOT of dark blue (-0.8V) and light blue (1.0V). The response time reaching 90% of the full optical contrast of PEDOT-FY was 3.4s for the oxidation process and 2.6s for the reverse reduction process when the [EDOT]/[FY] is 1:2, however, when the FY concentration decreased to [EDOT]/[FY] =1:0.01, the response time reduced to 1.9s and 1.7s for the oxidation and reduction process respectively, which is equal to that of the pure PEDOT. Additionally, the colorimetric analysis results show that components of yellow and red in PEDOT-FY films become stronger than pure PEDOT film at the whole electrochromic process. It is shown that acid dye doping is an effective method to broaden the color change range of the electrochromic mateials.