Organic-inorganic hybrid electrochromic materials, polysilsesquioxanes containing triarylamine, changing color from colorless to blue

Shuzhong Wang; Shuwei Cai; Wanan Cai; Haijun Niu; Cheng Wang; Xuduo Bai; Wen Wang; Yanjun Hou

doi:10.1038/s41598-017-15337-1

Organic-inorganic hybrid electrochromic materials, polysilsesquioxanes containing triarylamine, changing color from colorless to blue

Sci Rep. 2017 Nov 7;7(1):14627. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-15337-1.

Authors

Shuzhong Wang¹, Shuwei Cai¹, Wanan Cai¹, Haijun Niu², Cheng Wang¹, Xuduo Bai¹, Wen Wang³, Yanjun Hou¹

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Functional Inorganic Material Chemistry, Ministry of Education, Department of Macromolecular Science and Engineering, School of Chemical, Chemical Engineering and Materials, Heilongjiang University, Harbin, 150086, P.R. China.
² Key Laboratory of Functional Inorganic Material Chemistry, Ministry of Education, Department of Macromolecular Science and Engineering, School of Chemical, Chemical Engineering and Materials, Heilongjiang University, Harbin, 150086, P.R. China. haijunniu@hotmail.com.
³ School of Materials Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150080, P.R. China. wangwen@hit.edu.cn.

Abstract

Four kinds of soluble monomers, containing triarylamine (TAA) group with reactive siloxane group, were synthesized under mild conditions via the reaction between 3-(triethoxysilyl)propyl isocyanate (TEOSPIC) and four TAA derivatives, respectively. Then the corresponding colorless organic-inorganic hybrid materials (PSSOs) were derived from the hydrolytic condensation of the monomers. PSSOs revealed good solubility in polar solvents on account of the effect of propeller-like TAA unit as well as the auxo-action effect of the flexible chain within the monomers. The structural characteristics of these PSSOs were identified by ¹H NMR, ²⁹Si NMR, FT-IR spectroscopies and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The morphology, dynamic changes of the transmittance and current before and after electro-oxidizing reaction were studied, and didn't show significant change suggesting good stability of the PSSOs. Meanwhile, these PSSOs performed high contrast of optical transmittance change up to 84% with the highest coloration efficiency to 241 cm²·C^-1. Furthermore, electrofluorescent properties of PSSOs were investigated with high-contrast.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't