Electrochemical synthesis and characterization of poly(9-benzylfluorene)

Abstract

In this study, we report the electrochemical polymerization of 9-benzylfluorene (9-BF) in acetonitrile solution. The characterization of the resulting poly(9-BF) film obtained on the working electrode has been performed by using attenuated total reflectance infrared spectroscopy. Besides electrochemical properties, the optical and photoluminescent properties of film were also investigated in detail by means of UV-Vis spectroscopy and fluorescence spectroscopy. Fluorescent spectral studies indicate that polymer film in solid state emits blue-green light at around 470/520 nm under irradiation of UV light. In addition, scanning tunneling microscopy was used to investigate the morphology of poly(9-BF) film. The morphological results also reveal that the surface of single crystalline gold electrode is completely covered with the polymer film.