Porphyrin exhibits significant optical and electronic properties making them versatile building blocks for the incorporation into polymer systems. Introduction of porphyrin in the polymer chain induces remarkable effect on the spectroelectrochemical properties of electrochromic conducting polymers (ECPs)[1,2]. This study reports the electropolymerization of Zn(II) porphyrin monomers with pyridyl unit and 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene as co-monomer on indium tin oxide(ITO) coated glass. The films formed were characterized by spectroscopic (UV-Vis, FT-IR, Raman and XPS) and microscopic (SEM and AFM) techniques. The data demonstrate the integration of porphyrin into the polymer network. The large aromatic π-system of porphyrin gives deep coloration and characteristic electronic spectra which induces multielectrochromic properties with good stability and fast switching response to the polymer. The electrochemistry and spectroelectrochemistry studies were performed to get insight on the polymerization process and establish better understanding about the electrochromic properties depicting the influence of the porphyrin on the resultant copolymer.

References:

1. Guo, Y., Hao, X., Tao, Y., Zhang, C. and Cheng, H., 2019. Preparation, characterizations and electrochromic properties of copolymers containing 5, 10, 15, 20-tetra (thienyl) porphyrin and thiophene derivatives. Synthetic Metals, 258, 116202, pp.1-8.
2. Solis, C., Baigorria, E., Milanesio, M.E., Morales, G., Durantini, E.N., Otero, L. and Gervaldo, M., 2016. Electrochemical polymerization of EDOT modified Phthalocyanines and their applications as electrochromic materials with green coloration, and strong absorption in the Near-IR. Electrochimica Acta, 213, pp.594-605.