A ferrocene functionalized polymer: Poly [N-(ferrocenylmethyl)-o-phenylenediamine]. Electrochemical production and spectroelectroelectrochemical investigation in acetonitrile medium

An electroactive and conductive polymer having pendant ferrocene units was prepared from the electrochemical polymerization of the synthesized monomer, N-(ferrocenylmethyl)-o-phenylenediamine in 0.1 M tetrabuthylammonium perchlorate/acetonitrile medium. The poly-N-(ferrocenylmethyl)-o-phenylenediamine (poly-FMOPD) was generated potentiodynamically or potentiostatically at both of indium tin oxide coated glass substrate and Pt electrodes. The poly-FMOPD film was characterized by cyclic voltammetry, chronoamperometry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, dry conductivity measurements, ultraviolet-visible absorption spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy. The electrical conductivity of polymer films was determined as 1.0 × 10− 1 and 4 × 10− 2 S cm− 1 depending on the potential scanning range during electropolymerization. The electroactivity of the polymer film retained even after hundreds cycles between their reduced and oxidized states. The spectroelectrochemical analysis demonstrated that the polymer film reveals a reversible cycling with distinctive color changes between neutral and reduced/oxidized forms. For the polymer film, the maximum optical contrasts (ΔT%) were measured as 18% at and 37% at 480 nm by step the potential between (0.00 V)-(1.20 V) and (− 0.50 V)-(− 1.70 V), respectively. The optical energy band gaps as the onset energy for the π-π* transitions are calculated as 1.89 eV, 1.85 eV and 1.88 eV for the neutral, reduced and oxidized states of poly-FMOPD.