In-situ ESR spectroelectrochemical studies of overoxidation behaviour of poly(3,4-butylenedioxythiophene)

The behaviour of poly(3,4-butylenedioxythiophene) (PBuDOT), a relative of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythipohnene) PEDOT within the poly(3,4-alkylenedioxythiophene) family, has been investigated at potentials above its electrochemical stability threshold using in situ ESR spectroelectrochemistry. The aim was to investigate the effect of electrochemical overoxidation on the charge carrying species, namely polarons, normally generated and annihilated during reversible redox doping and dedoping reactions, by determining the potential dependencies of spectroscopic parameters of the ESR spectra of the polymer over a selected potential range. Specific features of the trends of these dependencies allowed also for an evaluation of presence of the second type of charge carrying species—diamagnetic bipolarons and the effects of their interactions with polarons at different potentials. Around 1.5 V, where the boundary of electrochemical stability of the polymer lies, sharp drop of the concentration of paramagnetic centres has been observed together with a transitory narrowing of the ESR line. These changes were found to be irreversible as evidenced by the course of subsequent reduction half-cycle, which differed from the one for a not overoxidised polymer, observed in previous studies. Aided by the results of electrochemical studies it was concluded that the overoxidation process leads to a degradation of the polymer most probably due decrease of the conjugation length of the main chain π-bond through cross-linking or addition reactions. While the electrochemical results pointed to a non-complete degradation of the polymer, the specific parameters of the ESR line in the reduction half-cycle indicate that the remaining spins are confined to isolated segments of a partially degraded polymer where their behaviour resembles oligomer-like radicals.