3,4-Ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT)-based π-conjugated oligomers: Facile synthesis and excited-state properties

Engineering Proteins for PEDOT Dispersions: A New Horizon for Highly Mixed Ionic-Electronic Biocompatible Conducting Materials

Poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) doped with polystyrene sulfonate (PSS) is the most used conducting polymer from energy to biomedical applications. Despite its exceptional properties, there is a need for developing new materials that can improve some of its inherent limitations, e.g., biocompatibility. In this context, doping PEDOT is propose with a robust recombinant protein with tunable properties, the consensus tetratricopeptide repeated protein (CTPR). The doping consists of an oxidative polymerization, where the PEDOT chains are stabilized by the negative charges of the CTPR protein. CTPR proteins are evaluated with three different lengths (3, 10, and 20 identical CTPR units) and optimized varied synthetic conditions. These findings revealed higher doping rate and oxidized state of the PEDOT chains when doped with the smallest scaffold (CTPR3). These PEDOT:CTPR hybrids possess ionic and electronic conductivity. Notably, PEDOT:CTPR3 displayed an electronic conductivity of 0.016 S cm-1, higher than any other reported protein-doped PEDOT. This result places PEDOT:CTPR3 at the level of PEDOT-biopolymer hybrids, and brings it closer in performance to PEDOT:PSS gold standard. Furthermore, PEDOT:CTPR3 dispersion is successfully optimized for inkjet printing, preserving its electroactivity properties after printing. This approach opens the door to the use of these novel hybrids for bioelectronics.

Conductive nanofiltration membranes via in situ PEDOT-polymerization for electro-assisted membrane fouling mitigation

Nanofiltration (NF) membranes play a pivotal role in water treatment; however, the persistent challenge of membrane fouling hampers their stable application. This study introduces a novel approach to address this issue through the creation of a poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT)-based conductive membrane, achieved by synergistically coupling interfacial polymerization (IP) with in situ self-polymerization of EDOT. During the IP reaction, the concurrent generation of HCl triggers the protonation of EDOT, activating its self-polymerization into PEDOT. This interwoven structure integrates with the polyamide network to establish a stable selective layer, yielding a remarkable 90 % increase in permeability to 20.4 L m-2 h-1 bar-1. Leveraging the conductivity conferred by PEDOT doping, an electro-assisted cleaning strategy is devised, rapidly restoring the flux to 98.3 % within 5 min, outperforming the 30-minute pure water cleaning approach. Through simulations in an 8040 spiral-wound module and the utilization of the permeated salt solution for cleaning, the electro-assisted cleaning strategy emerges as an eco-friendly solution, significantly reducing water consumption and incurring only a marginal electricity cost of 0.055 $ per day. This work presents an innovative avenue for constructing conductive membranes and introduces an efficient and cost-effective electro-assisted cleaning strategy to effectively combat membrane fouling.

Electron‐Rich EDOT Linkers in Tetracationic bis‐Triarylborane Chromophores: Influence on Water Stability, Biomacromolecule Sensing, and Photoinduced Cytotoxicity

Three novel tetracationic bis‐triarylboranes with 3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT) linkers, and their neutral precursors, showed significant red‐shifted absorption and emission compared to their thiophene‐containing analogues, with one of the EDOT‐derivatives emitting in the NIR region. Only the EDOT‐linked trixylylborane tetracation was stable in aqueous solution, indicating that direct attachment of a thiophene or even 3‐methylthiophene to the boron atom is insufficient to provide hydrolytic stability in aqueous solution. Further comparative analysis of the EDOT‐linked trixylylborane tetracation and its bis‐thiophene analogue revealed efficient photo‐induced singlet oxygen production, with the consequent biological implications. Thus, both analogues bind strongly to ds‐DNA and BSA, very efficiently enter living human cells, accumulate in several different cytoplasmic organelles with no toxic effect but, under intense visible light irradiation, they exhibit almost instantaneous and very strong cytotoxic effects, presumably attributed to singlet oxygen production. Thus, both compounds are intriguing theranostic agents, whose intracellular and probably intra‐tissue location can be monitored by strong fluorescence, allowing switching on of the strong bioactivity by well‐focused visible light.

Ladder-like Polymer Brushes Containing Conjugated Poly(Propylenedioxythiophene) Chains

The high stability and conductivity of 3,4-disubstituted polythiophenes such as poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) make them attractive candidates for commercial applications. However, next-generation nanoelectronic devices require novel macromolecular strategies for the precise synthesis of advanced polymer structures as well as their arrangement. In this report, we present a synthetic route to make ladder-like polymer brushes with poly(3,4-propylenedioxythiophene) (PProDOT)-conjugated chains. The brushes were prepared via a self-templating surface-initiated technique (ST-SIP) that combines the surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP) of bifunctional ProDOT-based monomers and subsequent oxidative polymerization of the pendant ProDOT groups in the parent brushes. The brushes prepared in this way were characterized by grazing-angle FTIR, XPS spectroscopy, and AFM. Steady-state and time-resolved photoluminescence measurements were used to extract the information about the structure and effective conjugation length of PProDOT-based chains. Stability tests performed in ambient conditions and under exposure to standardized solar light revealed the remarkable stability of the obtained materials.

Panchromatic ternary organic solar cells with 9.44% efficiency incorporating porphyrin-based donors

In an effort to improve the short-circuit current and fill factor, organic solar cells have been developed with ternary blending in a single bulk heterojunction active layer. We report here several all small molecule organic solar cells based on ternary bulk heterojunction active layers. These layers consist of two small molecule porphyrin donors (MV71 and MV72), which have the same backbone but different end-capping acceptor units, and PC71BM as the acceptor. The organic solar cells showed overall power conversion efficiencies of 3.21% and 4.03% for the as-cast MV71:PC71BM and MV72:PC71BM binary active layers, respectively. However, the power conversion efficiency of the ternary active layer, i.e., MV71:MV72:PC71BM (0.2 : 0.8 : 2), was 6.72% and this is higher than the two binary active layer counterparts. The enhancement in the PCE of the ternary active layer is mainly related to the improvement in both the short-circuit current and fill factor and is related to the synergistic effect of the good miscibility of the two donors and improved hole transportation due to the slightly deeper highest occupied molecular orbital energy level of MV72 than MV71. The PCE was further improved to 9.44% with an enhanced short-circuit current and fill factor when the ternary active layer was subjected to solvent vapour annealing for 40 seconds. The ternary organic solar cells showed higher values of the incident photon to current conversion efficiency across the entire wavelength region when compared to the binary counterparts. The same donor backbone facilitates miscibility at the molecular level and the different HOMO and LUMO energy levels of the donors enable charge transport in the devices based on the ternary active layers. The increase in the power conversion efficiency after SVA treatment may be attributed to the migration of MV71 from the mixed region to the donor-acceptor (D-A) interfaces, which in turn affects the charge transfer and recombination processes and is confirmed by the impedance spectroscopy and dark current-voltage measurements.

A facile solid-state heating method for preparation of poly(3,4-ethelenedioxythiophene)/ZnO nanocomposite and photocatalytic activity

Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)/zinc oxide (PEDOT/ZnO) nanocomposites were prepared by a simple solid-state heating method, in which the content of ZnO was varied from 10 to 20 wt%. The structure and morphology of the composites were characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) absorption spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The photocatalytic activities of the composites were investigated by the degradation of methylene blue (MB) dye in aqueous medium under UV light and natural sunlight irradiation. The FTIR, UV-vis, and XRD results showed that the composites were successfully synthesized, and there was a strong interaction between PEDOT and nano-ZnO. The TEM results suggested that the composites were a mixture of shale-like PEDOT and less aggregated nano-ZnO. The photocatalytic activity results indicated that the incorporation of ZnO nanoparticles in composites can enhance the photocatalytic efficiency of the composites under both UV light and natural sunlight irradiation, and the highest photocatalytic efficiency under UV light (98.7%) and natural sunlight (96.6%) after 5 h occurred in the PEDOT/15wt%ZnO nanocomposite.