The application of electrochemistry to the measurement of selected intrinsic properties of polyacetylene

Electrochemical techniques are applied to a study of selected intrinsic physical properties (independent of dopant) of polyacetylene, (CH)x. Electrochemical voltage spectroscopy (EVS) is used to characterize the energies of charge injection and removal for both cis-(CH)x and trans-(CH)x. The difference in charge injection and ejection potentials is shown to give a direct measure of the approximate semiconductor band gap and the results are compared with similar data from optical measurements. Charge injection and ejection potentials are used to define the redox potentials of (CH)x and are used in conjunction with equilibrium potential measurements at varying oxidation or reduction levels of polyacetylene to present a unifying concept to the electrochemistry of (CH)x.