Electrosyntheses, characterizations and electrochromic properties of a copolymer based on 4,4'-di(N-carbazoyl)biphenyl and 2,2'-bithiophene

• Published in: Solar energy materials and solar cells Vol. 95; no. 7; pp. 1867 - 1874
• Main Authors: Wang, Bin, Zhao, Jinsheng, Liu, Renmin, Liu, Jifeng, He, Qingpeng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier 01.07.2011
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Computational efficiency; Computing time; Copolymers; Devices; Electrochromism; Energy; Exact sciences and technology; Miscellaneous; Natural energy; Response time; Scanning electron microscopy; Solar energy; Voltammetry; Performance evaluation; Electrochromic devices; Conjugated polymers; Copolymerization; Electrochromism; Electrochromic device; Electrochemical polymerization; Cyclic voltammetry; Conjugated polymer; Discontinuous mode; Current mode; Thiophene derivative polymer; Copolymer; Fourier-transformed infrared spectrometry; Spectroelectrochemistry; Coloration; Scanning electron microscopy; Optical memory; Thermogravimetry; Perchlorates; Electrochemical properties; Sodium; Biphenyl derivatives; Electrochemistry; Ultraviolet visible spectrometry
• ISSN: 0927-0248; 1879-3398
• DOI: 10.1016/j.solmat.2011.02.009

Electrochemical copolymerization of 4,4'-di(N-carbazoyl)biphenyl (CBP) with 2,2'-bithiophene (BT) is carried out in acetonitrile (ACN)/dichloromethane (DCM) (1:1, by volume) solution containing sodium perchlorate (NaClO sub(4) as a supporting electrolyte. Characterizations of the resulting copolymer P(CBP-co-BT) are performed by cyclic voltammetry (CV), UV-vis spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and thermogravimetry (TG). The P(CBP-co-BT) film has distinct electrochromic properties and exhibits four different colors (orange yellow, blue, yellowish green and greenish blue) under various potentials. Maximum contrast ( Delta T%) and response time of the copolymer film are measured as 51.6% and 0.94 s at 667 nm. An electrochromic device (ECD) based on P(CBP-co-BT) and poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) is constructed and characterized. The optical contrast ( Delta T%) at 700 nm is found to be 28.6% and the response time is measured as 0.47 s. The coloration efficiency (CE) of the device is calculated to be 234 cm[super]2 C[super]-1 at 700 nm. An ECD also has good optical memories and redox stability.)