Hydrolysis of doped conducting polymers.

ABSTRACT: Conducting polymers display a range of interesting properties, from electrical conduction to tunable optical absorption and mechanical flexibility, to name but a few. Their properties arise from positive charges (carbocations) on their conjugated backbone that are stabilised by counterions doped in the polymer matrix. In this research we report hydrolysis of these carbocations when poly(3,4-ethylenedioxy thiophene) is exposed to 1 mM aqueous salt solutions. Remarkably, two classes of anion interactions are revealed; anions that oxidise PEDOT via a doping process, and those that facilitate the S_N1 hydrolysis of the carbocation to create hydroxylated PEDOT. A pKa of 6.4 for the conjugate acid of the anion approximately marks the transition between chemical oxidation and hydrolysis

SUBMITTER: Sethumadhavan V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9814606 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature