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Enhanced Electrochromism with Rapid Growth Layer‐by‐Layer Assembly of Polyelectrolyte Complexes
Author(s) -
Cui Mengqi,
Ng Wee Siang,
Wang Xu,
Darmawan Peter,
Lee Pooi See
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
advanced functional materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.069
H-Index - 322
eISSN - 1616-3028
pISSN - 1616-301X
DOI - 10.1002/adfm.201402100
Subject(s) - electrochromism , polyelectrolyte , materials science , polyethylenimine , layer by layer , acrylic acid , polyaniline , electrochemistry , chemical engineering , layer (electronics) , polymer , electrochromic devices , polymer chemistry , nanotechnology , electrode , composite material , copolymer , chemistry , polymerization , transfection , biochemistry , engineering , gene
In this work, a facile method to deposit fast growing electrochromic multilayer films with enhanced electrochemical properties using layer‐by‐layer (LbL) self‐assembly of complex polyelectrolyte is demonstrated. Two linear polymers, poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) and polyethylenimine (PEI), are used to formulate stable complexes under specific pH to prepare polyaniline (PANI)/PAA‐PEI multilayer films via LbL deposition. By introducing polymeric complexes as building blocks, [PANI/PAA‐PEI] n films grow much faster compared with [PANI/PAA] n films, which are deposited under the same condition. Unlike the compact [PANI/PAA] n films, [PANI/PAA‐PEI] n films exhibit porous structure that is beneficial to the electrochemical process and leads to improved electrochromic properties. An enhanced optical modulation of 30% is achieved with [PANI/PAA‐PEI] 30 films at 630 nm compared with the lower optical modulation of 11% measured from [PANI/PAA] 30 films. The switching time of [PANI/PAA‐PEI] 30 films is only half of that of [PANI/PAA] 30 films, which indicates a faster redox process. Utilizing polyelectrolyte complexes as building blocks is a promising approach to prepare fast growing LbL films for high performance electrochemical device applications.