Electrosynthesis of novel photochemically active inherently conducting polymers using an ionic liquid electrolyte

Use of an ionic liquid as a solvent enabled the successful preparation of films composed of polyterthiophene doped with an anionic dye. Photoelectrochemical cells constructed using these films showed significant improvements in photovoltaic properties when the films were first reduced in the presence of a cationic dye. Absorption spectroscopic studies provided evidence for retention of both dyes in the films, while photocurrent action spectra showed that the increase in photovoltaic performance was due largely to improvements in light harvesting by the polymer.