Teaching Organic Electronics - Part II: Quick & Easy Synthesis of the (Semi-)Conductive Polymer PEDOT: PSS in a Snap-Cap Vial

Abstract

Organic Electronics is an interdisciplinary and cutting-edge research field leading to innovative applications and products like ultra-thin and high-efficient organic LED displays, lightweight and transparent organic solar cells or printed organic field-effect transistors (to name only few). The core functional materials in such devices are organic (semi-)conductors like conjugated polymers, oligomers or small molecules. As a sequel to our former contribution in the World Journal of Chemical Education (Vol 6, No. 1), we present in this paper a hands-on, quick and easy experiment for the synthesis of the (semi-)conductive polymer PEDOT:PSS. This experiment can be integrated into laboratory trainings and enriches the portfolio for teachers and lab-instructors dealing with organic electronics.

Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):Polystyrene Sulfonate-Modified Electrode for the Detection of Furosemide in Pharmaceutical Products

“…Here, the thiophene groups of PEDOT are electropolymerized with sulfonic acid groups of PSS. 35 − 37 We found that the polymerization process took few cycles to reach the oxidation less state.…”

“…GCE/PEDOT:PSS was dipped into 0.01 mol/L PBS (at a pH level of 4.0) solution containing 100 μM FURO, and electropolymerization was performed by CV with a potential range of −0.2 to 0.8 V for three cycles with a scan rate of 100 mV s –1 as shown in Figure A. Here, the thiophene groups of PEDOT are electropolymerized with sulfonic acid groups of PSS. − We found that the polymerization process took few cycles to reach the oxidation less state.…”

Chemiedidaktik

“…14) Beispiele mit starkem Bezug auf fachwissenschaftlich aktuelle Forschung sind die Weiterentwicklungen bei intrinsisch leitfähigen Polymeren, etwa Polypyrrol, 15) oder die Synthese eines halbleitenden Polymers für Oled. 16) Die Betrachtung des Photo-Blue-Bottle-Experiments über 25 Jahre zeigt exemplarisch die langfristige Entwicklung einer curricularen Innovation. 17) Weiterentwicklungen gab es zudem bei den Redoxflusssystemen für den Schulunterricht.…”

Spinner with fan and Arduino for assembly of organic light emitting diodedevices

“…For the assembly of OLED devices, the concept of multilayers created by a technique called spin-coating have been used [8][9][10][11] . Spin-coating is widely used to create thin films, not only for OLED devices, but also for organic photovoltaic cell (OPV) devices [12][13][14][15] .…”