Dual-Polymer Electrochromic Film Characterization Using Bipotentiostatic Control

Abstract

We report an analytical method which allows the systematic variation of color states of pairs of electrochromic conjugated conducting polymers with simultaneous spectroelectrochemical and colorimetric characterization of the resulting color summation. This method measures colors by transmitting light through two polymer films stacked together in electrolyte and under separate potentiostatic control. The polymers that were used in this work are poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT), poly(3,4-propylenedioxypyrrole) (PProDOP), and dihexyl-substituted poly(3,4-propylenedioxythiophene) (PProDOT-Hx2). These are all cathodically coloring polymers, PEDOT switching from a transmissive sky blue to a deep blue, PProDOP switching from a highly transmissive gray/blue to a brown and then to an orange, and PProDOT-Hx2 switching from a transmissive sky blue to a purple/magenta color upon reduction. Coupling these polymers logically by the dual-polymer electrochromic film characterization technique led us to obtain new colors which were not observed when these polymers were studied separately. For example, coupling PEDOT and PProDOP films in their neutral state resulted in a new red/brown color (L* = 59, a* = 25, and b* = 50), which is different from the original colors these polymers show in their neutral states, deep blue (L* = 64, a* = −5, and b* = −37) and orange (L* = 76, a* = 31, and b* = 75), respectively. A full palette of colors is accessible by coupling existing electrochromic polymers by this new bipotentiostatic technique.

The electrochemical impedance spectroscopy behavior of poly(aniline) nanocomposite electrodes modified by Layer-by-Layer deposition

“…Conducting polymers have paid great attention of the scientific community due to their wide applications in various fields such as sensors [1], solar cells [2][3], electrochromic devices [4][5], electronic shielding [6], supercapacitors [7,8], among others. In this way, the morphology plays an important role in any application, once depending on the synthesis, counter ion, structural defects and crosslink defects presence, for instance, different morphologies can be obtained, and so on tunable electrochemical behavior [9][10][11].…”

Primary‐Colored Electrochromism of 1,4‐Phenylenediamines

“…Owing to their ubiquitous nature, it is unsurprising that organic compounds constitute as ignificant group within the EC materials currently available. This includes the popularc lass of molecules known as the viologens, [2,12,13] as well as many other types of organic systems such as conducting polymers (e.g., PEDOT,p olyaniline, polythiophene), [6,[14][15][16] phenothiazine derivatives, [17,18] perylene and relatedd iimides, [19][20][21] and others. [22,23] We have recently reported that the one-electrone lectrochemicalr eduction of aromatic oxygen and sulfur para-substituted diesters induces intense colorc hanges, and have estimated their contrastr atios and chromatic efficiencies.…”

Matched‐dual‐polymer electrochromic lenses, using new cathodically coloring conducting polymers, with exceptional performance and incorporated into automated sunglasses

“…To the best of our knowledge and based on an extensive search of the literature, the electrochromic lenses and sunglasses we report herein represent the best visible‐region electrochromic performance for dual‐polymer CP electrochromic systems to date. They also are, to our knowledge, the first practical implementation in working sunglasses, that is, they represent practical, functional, and applied polymers.…”