AVS 65th International Symposium & Exhibition
    Plasma Science and Technology Division Monday Sessions
       Session PS+PB-MoA

Paper PS+PB-MoA5
Electrochromic Investigation of PEDOT Film Deposited by Plasma Radicals Assisted Polymerization via CVD

Monday, October 22, 2018, 2:40 pm, Room 104A

Session: Plasma and Polymers: 'The Legacy of Riccardo d’Agostino and Beyond’
Presenter: Bianca Rita Pistillo, Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST), Luxembourg
Authors: B.R. Pistillo, Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST), Luxembourg
G. Lamblin, Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST), Luxembourg
J. Polesel-Maris, Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST), Luxembourg
K. Menguelti, Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST)
D. Arl, Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST), Luxembourg
D. Lenoble, Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST), Luxembourg
Correspondent: Click to Email
Quite recently conducting polymer have been introduced into a broad range of organic electronic devices in place of analogous inorganic semiconductors, owing to their numerous merits as flexibility, low cost and lightweight over their forerunners. Similarly to inorganic material, also conducting polymer display electrochromism. The oxidation or reduction of these films is usually associated with reversible ion insertion and extraction across an electrochromic material/electrolyte interface with complementary electron transfer across the electrochromic material/electrode interface. In the last years, the study and implementation of organic electrochromic materials (OEM) into devices had a tremendous growth also because of their relatively narrow absorption band in displaying diverse and clear colour. [T.T. Steckler et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2014, 136, 1190] There are many interesting applications of OEM such as smart windows, flexible displays, electrochromic fibres, etc. One of the most attractive ones is Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) with its derivatives. PEDOT changes its colour from dark blue/purple, in its reduced state, to light blue, in the oxidised state with very low applied switching potential. Plasma Radicals Assisted Polymerization via Chemical Vapour Deposition (PRAP-CVD) has been developed at Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology as an efficient alternative to conventional vapour-based processes of conductive thin films as PEDOT. [D. Lenoble, Controlled radical assisited polymerization, Lux. 91934, 2013] This process is based on the concomitant but physically separated injection of low-energy oxidative radical initiators and vaporized monomer species into a reactor where temperature and pressure are finely controlled. [B.R.Pistillo et al. J. Mater. Chem. C 2016, 4, 5617] A few advantages of making the process completely dry include the possibility of processing solvent-sensitive substrates such as paper, overcoming the effects of rinsing on the underlying films in the case of multilayer structures. Moreover, PRAP-CVD allows the deposition of highly conformal coatings, which accurately follows the geometry of the underlying substrate independently from its nature, enlarging the application of PEDOT as OEM. In this work, we present the investigation of electrochromic properties of PRAP-CVD PEDOT films. The behaviour of films was compared with the data in the literature revealing a faster switching time compared to other vapour-based processes reported. The range of switching potential with limited electrochemical degradation of the thin electrochromic film was also investigated by the means of UV-visible spectroelectrochemistry.