Polycarbazole and Its Derivatives: Synthesis and Applications. A Review of the Last 10 Years

Abstract

Polycarbazole and its derivatives have been extensively used for the last three decades, although the interest in these materials briefly decreased. However, the increasing demand for conductive polymers for several applications such as light emitting diodes (OLEDs), capacitators or memory devices, among others, has renewed the interest in carbazole-based materials. In this review, the synthetic routes used for the development of carbazole-based polymers have been summarized, reviewing the main synthetic methodologies, namely chemical and electrochemical polymerization. In addition, the applications reported in the last decade for carbazole derivatives are analysed. The emergence of flexible and wearable electronic devices as a part of the internet of the things could be an important driving force to renew the interest on carbazole-based materials, being conductive polymers capable to respond adequately to requirement of these devices.

Investigation of polycarbazoles thin films prepared by electrochemical oxidation of 3- and 9-substituted carbazoles

“…Polycarbazoles can be obtained either by chemical polymerization of carbazole in the presence of an oxidizing agent, such as ferric chloride, as first evidenced by Branch and Tucker [37,38], or by electrochemical polymerization leading to a thin film at the surface of a conducting electrode as first described by Ambrose and Nelson [39,40]. The resulting films present numerous advantages such as homogeneity, controllable thickness, tunable conductivity, and ease of processing [41].…”

“…Moreover, positions 3, 6, and 9 have been shown to be the most reactive [39,40]. 9-Substituted carbazoles are supposed to behave in a similar way to 9H-carbazole, and electro-oxidation of 9-substituted carbazoles by inert groups such as alkyl (methyl, ethyl, dimethyl) [39,41,42], phenyl [39,43], and etheroxide groups [33] has been found to yield the first terms soluble oligomers linked at the 3,6-positions since the 9position is already occupied. Recently, our group also investigated the oxidation of carbazole substituted by -ethyl, -butyl, -hexyl, and -octyl groups at the 9-position in order to carry out the electrodeposition of polycarbazole derivatives [45].…”

Study on the electrochromic properties of polypyrrole layers doped with different dye molecules

“…Electrochromic polymers are a group of conducting polymers that are capable of color change under external voltage. These include polyaniline, polypyrrole (PPy), polyfuran, polycarbazole, and polythiophene derivatives [1,[3][4][5][6]. Electrochromic polymers have achieved significance, in part because of their easy control of formation by spin coating, self-assembly, drop casting or electropolymerization techniques, among others, to form solid and robust films [7][8][9].…”

Electrosynthesis of Electrochromic Polymer Membranes Based on 3,6-Di(2-thienyl)carbazole and Thiophene Derivatives

“…The most commonly used conjugated polymeric materials are polycarbazole [ 12 , 13 ], poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) [ 14 ], polythiophene [ 15 ], polyfuran [ 16 ], polypyrrole [ 17 ], polyaniline [ 18 ], polytriphenylamine [ 19 , 20 , 21 ], and polyindole [ 22 , 23 ]. Polycarbazole and polytriphenylamine have been extensively applied for various electronic and optical devices owing to their high hole transporting mobility and good photoactive and electroactive performances [ 24 ]. Hsiao et al published the electrochromic properties of carbazole- and triphenylamine-based polymers (P(PhCz-2Cz) and P(TPA-2Cz)).…”