Dual-donor D-A-D types electrochromic conjugated polymers employed quinoxaline as the acceptor: Synthesis, electrochemistry, and electrochromism

• Published in: Polymer (Guilford) 2024-10, Vol.312, p.127649, Article 127649
• Main Authors: Lin, Kaiwen, Zhang, Jianjing, Wang, Xi, Ming, Shouyi, Ao, Zhanghan, Ding, Lei, Liang, Jiaxin, Xiao, Jialing, Zhan, Yaokun, He, Siru, Shi, Jiani, Lu, Junlin, Feng, Chaohua, Hua, Guanyu, Liu, Hao, Mo, Daize
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Dual-donor; Electrochromic; Electrochromic conjugated polymers; Quinoxaline
• ISSN: 0032-3861
• DOI: 10.1016/j.polymer.2024.127649

In this work, two donor-acceptor-donor (D-A-D) type electrochromic conjugated polymers were prepared upon electrochemical oxidation through their precursors employed dual-thiophene derivatives as the donor units and quinoxaline as the acceptor unit. The effects of different donor substituents on the polymers’ electrochemical and electrochromic properties were carefully examined. Owing to the introduction of stronger electron donor ability of 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT), P(Q-T-E) demonstrated good coplanarity and dense surface morphology, outstanding redox activity and stability (retained 97 % after 1000 cycles), low optical band gap (1.45 eV). P(Q-T-T) exhibited excellent electrochromic performance of above 30 % transmittance changes in both the NIR region and the visible region, as fast as 0.75 s response time, and high coloration efficiency value of 212.8 cm2 C−1. The Dual-donor strategy may provide a new research idea to achieve high-performance electrochromic D-A-D conjugated polymers. Two donor-acceptor-donor (D-A-D) type electrochromic conjugated polymers were prepared upon electrochemical oxidation through their precursors employed dual-thiophene derivatives as the donor units and quinoxaline as the acceptor unit. Both polymers exhibit considerable or even superior electrochemical and electrochromic performance compared with the report electrochromic conjugated polymers consisting of quinoxaline moiety, which proven to be effective of dual-donor strategy. [Display omitted] •Polymers employed quinoxaline and bithiophene derivative were electrosynthesized.•The fast response time of 0.75 s is far ahead of reported quinoxaline ECPs.•The dual-donor strategy provide insight to achieve high-performance ECPs.