Preparation and Electrochromic Properties of Benzodithiophene-Isoindigo Conjugated Polymers with Oligoethylene Glycol Side Chains

Qilin Wang; Yuehui Zhai; Danming Chao; Zheng Chen; Zhenhua Jiang

doi:10.3390/ma16010060

Materials (Dec 2022)

Preparation and Electrochromic Properties of Benzodithiophene-Isoindigo Conjugated Polymers with Oligoethylene Glycol Side Chains

Qilin Wang,
Yuehui Zhai,
Danming Chao,
Zheng Chen,
Zhenhua Jiang

Affiliations

Qilin Wang: Engineering Research Center of Special Engineering Plastics, Ministry of Education, National and Local Joint Engineering Laboratory for Synthetic Technology of High Performance Polymer, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, China
Yuehui Zhai: School of Materials and Energy, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 611731, China
Danming Chao: Engineering Research Center of Special Engineering Plastics, Ministry of Education, National and Local Joint Engineering Laboratory for Synthetic Technology of High Performance Polymer, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, China
Zheng Chen: Engineering Research Center of Special Engineering Plastics, Ministry of Education, National and Local Joint Engineering Laboratory for Synthetic Technology of High Performance Polymer, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, China
Zhenhua Jiang: Engineering Research Center of Special Engineering Plastics, Ministry of Education, National and Local Joint Engineering Laboratory for Synthetic Technology of High Performance Polymer, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, China

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16010060
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 16, no. 1
p. 60

Abstract

Read online

Functional polymers featuring good processability in non-halogenated, benzene-free green solvents are highly desired due to health and environmental concerns. Herein, a series of novel D-A type conjugated polymers, PBDT-IIDs, are designed and successfully prepared by “green” functionalization of the polymers with highly hydrophilic, highly polar, highly flexible, and biocompatible oligoethylene glycol (OEG) side chains in order to improve the processability. These series polymers are named PBDT-IID2, PBDT-IID3, and PBDT-IID4, respectively, according to the number of oxygen atoms in the side chain. After confirmation by structural characterization, the basic properties of PBDT-IIDs are also investigated. With the increase in the OEG side chain length, the polymer PBDT-IID4 not only has good solubility in the halogen solvent chlorobenzene, but also exhibits excellent solubility in the green halogen-free solvent methyltetrahydrofuran (Me-THF). As a result, the green solvent Me-THF can also be applied to prepare PBDT-IIDs’ electrochromic active layers, except for chlorobenzene and toluene. The electrochromism of PBDT IIDs under both positive and negative voltages has a practical application potential. The several controllable switches between dark green and khaki (0–0.6 V) are expected to show great potential in the field of military camouflage. Furthermore, according to the principle of red, green, and blue (RGB) mixing, light blue-green in the reduced state (−1.6 V) can be used in the preparation of complementary ECDs to provide one of the three primary colors (green).

Published in Materials

ISSN: 1996-1944 (Online)
Publisher: MDPI AG
Country of publisher: Switzerland
LCC subjects: Technology: Electrical engineering. Electronics. Nuclear engineering; Technology: Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General); Science: Natural history (General): Microscopy; Science: Physics: Descriptive and experimental mechanics
Website: http://www.mdpi.com/journal/materials/

About the journal

Abstract

Keywords