Rational design of an “all-in-one” monomer to obtain black-to-highly transmissive electrochromic polymer

Abstract

We report here the rational design of novel black-to-highly transmissive electrochromic material consisting of two different complementary units and a π-conjugated pendant group. Polymerization of the triazine-cored super-structured molecule has yielded a high optical contrast black electrochromic conductive polymer by a combination of the complementary spectra of polycarbazole, polyaniline, and pyrene-based π-conjugated pendant group. The polymer has exhibited a high optical contrast of up to 81% covering the range of 400–800 nm in the spectrum. The PTPCFd film is highly transparent at neutral state, then gray, and finally turns to deep black color covering a broad absorption in the visible range at oxidized state. This work could provide a new method for the design and synthesis of practical black-to-transmissive materials.