Electrical and Optical Properties of Poly(3,4-dialkylthiophene)

Poly(3,4-dialkylthiophene) films prepared by both electrochemical and chemical methods utilizing FeCl 3 as catalyst exhibit much larger band gap compared with non-substituted and 3-substituted polythiophene films. Poly(3,4-dialkylthiophene)s with long alkyl chains are soluble in several solvent. However, thermochromism has not been found contrary to poly(3-alkylthiophene), which are explained in terms of large torsion angle between neighbouring thiophene rings due to the steric hindrance by bulky alkyl group. Poly(3,4-dimethylthiophene) with large band gap also demonstrates drastic spectral, electron spin resonance (ESR) and conductivity changes upon doping due to an insulator-metal transition.