Chemical and electrochemical grafting of polythiophene onto poly(vinyl chloride): synthesis,characterization, and materials properties

A facile strategy for chemical and electrochemical grafting of polythiophene onto poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) is reported. For this purpose, a thiophene-functionalized PVC macromonomer (ThPVCM) was synthesized using a Kumada cross-coupling reaction. The synthesis of macromonomer was verified by means of Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and ¹H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopes. The graft copolymerization of thiophene monomers onto ThPVCM was initiated by oxidized thiophene groups coupled onto PVC backbone after addition of ferric chloride (FeCl₃) via oxidation polymerization method. Moreover, the electrochemical graft copolymerization of thiophene onto ThPVCM was performed via constant potential electrolysis in the acetonitrile (ACN)–tetraethylammonium tetrafluoroborate (TEAFB) solvent–electrolyte couple. The PVC-g-PTh obtained was characterized by means of FTIR spectroscopy and gel permeation chromatography (GPC), and its electroactivity behavior was verified under cyclic voltammetric conditions. Moreover, thermal behavior of the synthesized polymer was investigated by means of thermogravimetric analysis (TGA).