Electrosynthesis of a copolymer containing C60 in the main chain

The electrochemical synthesis of a copolymer consisting of phenylene vinylene units and C60 was studied. The starting materials were α,α,α′,α′-tetrabromo-p-xylene and C60. The fullerene is introduced into the polymer synthesis as a film on the working electrode. The C60 film is dissolved upon reduction and the reduced fullerene species interacts with the simultaneously reduced precursor at the electrode surface resulting in a film on the substrate. The coupling reaction between the reduced species leads to a material where the fullerene units are incorporated into the main polymer chain. The film formed is characterized by cyclic voltammetry and by FTIR, Raman and UV-vis spectroscopy. The charging discharging reaction of the copolymer film was studied by in situ ATR-FTIR. The spectroscopic results indicate short chains of copolymeric structure. Fluorescence spectra were recorded from films of the copolymer and from PPV. The fluorescence of PPV was quenched to one tenth of its origin in the copolymer film.