Synthesis and electro-optical properties of new conjugated hybrid polymers based on furan and fluorene units

A novel series of hybrid monomers containing furan and fluorene units, namely 2-(2-(furan-2-yl)-9H-fluoren-7-yl)furan (FFF), 2,7-di(furan-2-yl)-9H-fluoren-9-one (FOF) and 2-(2-(furan-2-yl)-9,9-dihexyl-9H-fluoren-7-yl)furan (FHF), was synthesized and their electrochemical polymerization was achieved via potential cycling. Optical and electrochemical properties of the polymers, poly(2-(2-(furan-2-yl)9H-fluoren-7-yl)furan (PFFF), poly(2,7-di(furan-2-yl)-9H-fluoren-9-one) (PFOF) and poly(2-(2-(furan2-yl)-9,9-dihexyl-9H-fluoren-7-yl)furan) (PFHF), were investigated and it was found that polymer films exhibited quasi-reversible redox behavior (E-p(ox) =0.92V for PFFF, E-p(ox) = 1.08V for PFOF and E-p(ox) = 0.99V for PFHF) accompanied with a reversible electrochromic behavior, yellow to dark blue for PFFF, orange to green for PFOF and orange to green for PFHF. Their band gap values (E-g) were found to be 2.49, 2.32 and 2.61 eV for PFFF, PFOF and PFHF, respectively. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.