Electrochemical, spectroelectrochemical and surface photovoltage study of ambipolar C60-EDOT and C60-Carbazole based conducting polymers

Abstract Ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT) and Carbazole (CBZ) based conducting polymers holding pendant C 60 Buckminster fullerene were formed by electrochemical induced dimerization of four structurally related monomers. Electrochemical and spectroelectrochemical characterization of the thin films clearly indicates the presence of EDOT and CBZ dimers as structural building blocks of the polymeric materials. Under positive applied potentials, all the synthesized conductive materials generate UV–visible-near IR absorption bands that denote the presence of two oxidized states in the electrochemical generated dimers. Also, the four polymeric films showed reversible reduction of the C 60 units. The capacity of the materials for the production of photoelectric effects was analyzed by surface photovoltage spectroscopy, showing that the illumination of C 60 -CBZ polymers causes preferential separation of photogenerated charge carriers in the double-cable polymeric organic films.