| Abstract
| - A comparative analysis of the copolymerization behavior between an electro-active terthiophene and a carbazolemoiety of a conjugated polymer precursor was investigated using electrochemical and hyphenated electrochemicalmethods. Five different precursor polymers were first synthesized and characterized using NMR, IR, and GPC. Thepolymers include homopolymers of individual electro-active groups (P3T, P−CBZ) and different compositions of 25,50, and 75% (P3TC-25, P3TC50, and P3TC-75) with respect to the two electro-active groups. Since the oxidationpotentials of terthiophene and carbazole lie very close to each other, highly cross-linked copolymer films of varyingextent were produced depending on the composition. The copolymerization extent was found to be dependent primarilyon the amount of the terthiophene, which in this case provided for a more efficient carbazole polymerization andcopolymerization than with just carbazole alone (homopolymer). The extent of copolymerization, electrochromicproperties, and viscoelastic changes was quantitatively investigated using a number of hyphenated electrochemistrytechniques: spectro-electrochemistry, electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance studies (EC-QCM), and electrochemical surface plasmon resonance spectroscopy (EC−SPR). Each technique revealed a unique aspect of theelectrocopolymerization behavior that was used to define structure−property relationships and the deposition/copolymerization mechanism.
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