Synthesis and electropolymerization of 3-arylthieno[3,2-b]thiophenes and triphenylamine based comonomers

Abstract Electrochemical polymerizations of thieno[3,2-b]thiophenes (TT), named PhTTTPA, CH3OPhTTTPA and CNPhTTTPA, possessing pH, 4-CH3OPh, 4-CNPh and triphenylamine (TPA) units, were performed and their corresponding polymers P[PhTTTPA], P[CH3OPhTTTPA] and P[CNPhTTTPA] were obtained, respectively. The polymer films were characterized by cyclic voltammetry (CV), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and spectroelectrochemical measurements, which suggested that while the presence of strong electron donating TPA unit provided them with better electrochemical reversibility, strong electron withdrawing -CN group lowered the oxidation potential of P[CNPhTTTPA] along with enhancement of its charge storage character.