Thermal, photophysical, and electrochemical characterization of a conjugated polyazomethine prepared by anodic electropolymerization of a thiophenoazomethine co-monomer

A novel conjugated azomethine co-monomer consisting uniquely of thiophenes is presented, which was prepared by a simple condensation reaction in the absence of solvent. The conjugated thiophenoazomethine triad sustained anodic electropolymerization to afford a conjugated polymer that was deposited as a thin film onto a transparent ITO electrode. The resulting polymer undergoes unprecedented reversible radical cation formation in addition to a reduction, illustrating its p- and n-type character. The measured spectroscopic properties showed that the polymer is conjugated with a low band-gap ca. 1.5 eV and its excited state energy is dissipated by nonradiative means.