Spectroscopic studies of CSA-doped poly[C-hydroxyl-(4-N-dimethylamino)phenyl]dithienylmethine and doping effects on ionic conductivity

Protonation of poly[C-hydroxyl-(4-N-dimethylamino)phenyl]dithienylmethine with (1S)-(+)-10-camphorsulfonic acid (CSA) induced a structural change on the pendant group of the polymer and resulted in the formation of a cationic quinoid iminium moiety. This chemical transformation changed the polymer from a non-conducting polymer into a semi-conducting polymer with the maximum ionic conductivity of 2 × 10−4 S cm−1 at 10 mol% CSA-doping level. The polydithienylmethines doped with various CSA loadings were characterized by UV–vis-NIR, FT-IR and Raman spectroscopy. An ion-hopping mechanism was suggested as the conduction mechanism for this CSA-doped polymer.