Medium Effect on the Electropolymerization and Electro-optical Properties of PEDOS

3,4-Ethylenedioxyselenophene (EDOS), an important derivative of 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT), has better optoelectronic properties including lower band gap, better interchain charge transfer, lower oxidation and reduction potentials. In this work, the electropolymerization behavior of EDOS, and the electrochemistry, surface morphology, optical and electrochromic properties of the resultant PEDOS films are comparatively investigated in different solvent-electrolyte systems (CH2Cl2-Bu4NPF6, CH2Cl2-BmimPF(6), and pure BmimPF(6)). We find that solvent-electrolyte systems exert influence on the electropolymerization behavior of EDOS monomer. EDOS displays lower onset oxidation potentials in CH2Cl2-BmimPF(6) and pure BmimPF(6) than commonly employed CH2Cl2-Bu4NPF6. PEDOS can be facilely electrodeposited in all these systems. Electrochromic results suggest that PEDOS film resulted from CH2Cl2-Bu4NPF6 medium exhibit relatively good transmittance changes (Delta T%) of 26.5%, high coloration efficiency of 80 cm(2) C-1. However, the addition of BmimPF(6) reveal a compact morphology, and enhanced the electrochemical stability and open circuit memory for PEDOS film. From these results, PEDOS can be further explored as electrochromic materials towards indoor electrochromic products and flexible displays.