Electrosynthesis and Characterization of a New Conducting Copolymer from 2’-aminomethyl-3, 4-ethylenedioxythiophene and 3, 4-ethylenedioxythiophene

The copolymerization of 2’-aminomethyl-3, 4-ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT-MeNH 2 ) and 3, 4-ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT) was successfully performed electrochemically in acetonitrile (CH 3 CN) containing tetrabutylammonium hexafluorophosphate (Bu 4 NPF 6 ) as the supporting electrolyte by direct anodic oxidation of the monomer mixtures. A series of experiments with different monomer feed ratios were carried out to investigate the influence of monomer feed ratio on the electrochemical copolymerization and the overall properties of the copolymer films. As-formed novel copolymers owned both the advantages of poly(2’-aminomethyl-3, 4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT-MeNH 2 ) and poly(3, 4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT), i.e ., good electrochemical behavior, excellent electrochemical stability, and good thermal stability. Spectroelectrochemistry analysis of copolymer with the feed ratio of 1:1 reflected λ max due to the π–π* transition and polaron band formation was found to be 620 nm and the band gap ( E g ) was calculated as 1.67 eV. The structure, thermogravimetry and morphology of the copolymers were investigated by infrared spectroscopy, thermal analysis, and scanning electron microscopy, respectively.