Synthesis and properties of electrochromic polymers from toluidines

Abstract

Electropolymerization of o-toluidine and m-toluidine in aqueous sulfuric acid gave uniform and insoluble polymer films while only low molecular weight species were obtained with p-toluidine. The resulting polymers have been characterized by cyclic voltammetry and spectroelectrochemistry. Poly(o-toluidine) and poly(m-toluidine) show almost the same electrochromic behaviour; the colour of both films changes from pale yellow to violet between -0.2 and 0.6 V vs. SCE in 0.1 M H2SO4. Finally, the electrochemical and optical properties of these polymers are compared with those found for poly(aniline). © 1988.