Electrochromic properties of polythiophene polyrotaxane film

The electrochromic properties of a polythiophene polyrotaxane film consisting of a polythiophene backbone wrapped by the tetra-cationic cyclophane, cyclobis(paraquat-p-phenylene), were characterized. A naked reference polythiophene film, i.e., polythiophene without tetra-cationic cyclophane, was also characterized. The surface morphology and thickness of the film (L) were observed by atomic force microscopy. The surface of the naked reference polythiophene film has micrometer-scale polythiophene aggregates, which causes the darker color of the film and smaller color contrast in the electrochromic process. The polythiophene polyrotaxane gives a more homogeneous and brighter colored film owing to the suppression of molecular interactions between the polythiophene chains by the tetra-cationic cyclophanes. Potential-step chronoamperometric measurement provided the area density of the oxidizable sites (Γ) and the apparent diffusion coefficient of the charge transport in the film. From linear relationship between L and Γ, the concentrations of the oxidizable sites in the polythiophene polyrotaxane and naked reference polythiophene films were calculated to be 1.3 and 2.4 mmol cm(-3), respectively. Interestingly, the polythiophene polyrotaxane film afforded a significantly larger apparent diffusion coefficient than the naked reference polythiophene film. This result suggests that the rate-determining step of the charge transport is not the electron hopping between the polythiophene chains but the transport of charge-compensating counterions from the solvent into the polythiophene. We believe that the counteranions of the tetra-cationic cyclophane provide a pathway allowing the charge-compensating counteranions to migrate from the solvent to polythiophene. The polythiophene polyrotaxane film showed faster color change than the naked reference polythiophene film in the electrochromic reaction. These results indicate that our polythiophene polyrotaxane is a better electrochromic material than the naked reference polythiophene.