A new donor/acceptor (D-A) spiro dye (SCPDT1) featuring two bithiophene units, connected through an sp(3)-hybridized carbon atom, was prepared by a multistep synthetic sequence involving the convenient assembly of the spiro system under mild catalytic conditions. The photocurrent spectrum of dye-sensitized solar cells incorporating SCPDT1 covers the spectral region ranging from 350 to 700 nm and reaches a wide maximum of ~80% in the 420-560 nm range. Power conversion efficiencies of up to 6.02% were obtained.

conducting polymer with the biggest prospects in the emerging field of bioelectronics due to their combination of characteristics (mixed conductivity, stability, transparency, and biocompatibility). [1] In this emerging field, PEDOT is currently being investigated in a number of new applications such as conducting hydrogels, biosensors, organic electrochemical transistors, selective detachment of cells, scaffolds for tissue engineering, electrodes for electrophysiology, implantable electrodes, stimulation of neuronal cells, electronic skin, or pan-bio electronics. [2] The most used PEDOT version is the commercially available aqueous dispersion poly(3,4-ethylen edioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT: PSS) which is usually processed by casting or spin-coating. However, in order to well connect the two fields of biology and electronics, [3] PEDOT:PSS presents some limitations associated with the low (bio)functionality of the PEDOT polymer and acidity/toxicity of the PSS stabilizer. [4-7] For this reason, in the last few years a number of functional EDOT monomer derivatives has been synthesized including hydroxymethyl, [8] chloromethyl, [9] azidomethyl, [10] carboxylic Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) is the most popular conducting polymer in the emerging field of bioelectronics. Besides its excellent properties and commercial availability, its success is due to the aqueous processability of its anionically stabilized solutions or dispersions. In this work, a water soluble version of PEDOT is shown, which is cationically stabilized. This work reports the chemical oxidative (co)polymerization of EDOT-ammonium derivative leading to PEDOT-N (co)polymers. PEDOT-N shows the typical features of PEDOT such as UV absorbance, bipolaron band, electrical conductivity, electrochemical behavior, and film formation ability. Furthermore, the PEDOT-N films show good biocompatibility in the presence of the human embryonic kidney-293 cell line. The water solubility of PEDOT-N and its cationic nature allows its processability in the form of thin films obtained by the layer-by-layer technique or as conducting hydrogels.

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