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The Effect of Oligo(Ethylene Oxide) Side Chains: A Strategy to Improve Contrast and Switching Speed in Electrochromic Polymers
Author(s) -
Chen Youquan,
Yin Yuyang,
Xing Xing,
Fang Daqi,
Zhao Yang,
Zhu Yanan,
Ali Muhammad Umair,
Shi Yuhao,
Bai Junwu,
Wu Peiheng,
Shen Clifton KwangFu,
Meng Hong
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
chemphyschem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.016
H-Index - 140
eISSN - 1439-7641
pISSN - 1439-4235
DOI - 10.1002/cphc.201901047
Subject(s) - electrochromism , ethylene oxide , polymer , materials science , side chain , electrochromic devices , thiophene , oxide , ionic bonding , ionic conductivity , fast switching , chemical engineering , polymer chemistry , nanotechnology , chemistry , copolymer , ion , organic chemistry , electrode , voltage , physics , quantum mechanics , electrolyte , composite material , metallurgy , engineering
Abstract Solution‐processable electrochromic polymers (ECPs) with high performance are urgently needed for extensive applications. Nevertheless, they suffer from slow switching speed because of low ionic conductivities. Herein, we present an effective strategy to improve the contrast and switching speed in ECPs via facile side‐chain engineering. A novel electrochromic thieno[3,2‐ b ]thiophene‐based polymer (PmOTTBTD) is designed and successfully synthesized by introducing oligo(ethylene oxide) side chains with high ionic conductivity. Compared to the counterpart POTTBTD without modification by oligo(ethylene oxide) chains, PmOTTBTD demonstrates nearly double contrast (42 % vs. 24 %) with a fast oxidation switching process that just takes half of the time when detected under 400 nm, as well as much higher coloration efficiencies (e. g. 239.04 cm 2 C −1 vs. 226.26 cm 2 C −1 @ 400 nm and 314.04 cm 2 C −1 vs. 174.00 cm 2 C −1 @ 650∼700 nm). Besides, PmOTTBTD exhibits excellent stability with negligible decay after 3000 cycles. Our work suggests a facile strategy that could be adopted to realize high‐performance ECPs via molecular design tuning.