AC-Bipolar Electropolymerization of 3,4-Ethylenedioxythiophene in Ionic Liquids

Zhenghao Chen; Yaqian Zhou; Elena Villani; Naoki Shida; Ikuyoshi Tomita; Shinsuke Inagi

doi:10.1021/acs.langmuir.3c00120

AC-Bipolar Electropolymerization of 3,4-Ethylenedioxythiophene in Ionic Liquids

Langmuir. 2023 Mar 28;39(12):4450-4455. doi: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.3c00120. Epub 2023 Mar 15.

Authors

Zhenghao Chen¹, Yaqian Zhou², Elena Villani¹, Naoki Shida³, Ikuyoshi Tomita¹, Shinsuke Inagi¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemical Science and Engineering, School of Materials and Chemical Technology, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 4259 Nagatsuta-cho, Midori-ku, Yokohama 226-8502, Japan.
² College of Chemistry and Materials Science, Northwest University, Xi'an 710069, P. R. China.
³ Department of Chemistry and Life Science, Yokohama National University, 79-5 Tokiwadai, Hodogaya-ku, Yokohama 240-8501, Japan.

Abstract

Recently, alternating current (AC)-bipolar electropolymerization of 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT) has been reported to produce poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) fibers from the terminals of bipolar electrodes in acetonitrile solution (MeCN) containing low concentrations of supporting salts in a template-free manner. Here, we extend such methodology in ionic liquid (IL) media. Three kinds of ILs, diethylmethyl(2-methoxyethyl)ammonium tetrafluoroborate ([DEME][BF₄]), 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([EMIM][BF₄]), and diethylmethyl(2-methoxyethyl)ammonium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide ([DEME][TFSI]), with different electric field transmission efficiencies and diffusion coefficients were employed as solvents for the AC-bipolar electropolymerization of EDOT. A variety of PEDOT morphologies were obtained in these three ILs, showing a relationship with the physicochemical properties of the ILs. We successfully confirmed the growth of PEDOT fibers in ILs and systematically discussed the factors that influenced their growth.