PEDOT:PSS Nanofilms Fabricated by a Nonconventional Coating Method for Uses as Transparent Conducting Electrodes in Flexible Electrochromic Devices

Abstract EN

Nanofilms of a polymer mixer of two ionomers, poly 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene:poly(styrene sulfonic acid) (PEDOT:PSS), were used as conducting materials to develop transparent conducting electrodes.

It was firstly found that convective deposition, a versatile and wide-area coating method, could be used for the coating and acid treatment of PEDOT:PSS films.

Electrical conductivity of the PEDOT:PSS films was significantly enhanced up to 1814 S/cm by only one-time surface treatment by a mild acid solution (4 M methanesulfonic acid).

This is because some PSS chains were removed out from the polymer mixer films without damage on the substrates.

UV-vis-NIR spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and cyclic voltammetry were used to characterize the acid-treated transparent conducting films.

In this report, obtained transparent conducting PEDOT:PSS films on polyester substrates were used as flexible electrodes for fabrication of flexible electrochromic devices.

Poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) was used as an active layer, which its color changed reversibly from transparent-light blue to purple with a small applied voltage (±3 V).