Electrochimica Acta, Vol.47, No.1-2, 171-180, 2001
Photoelectrochemical properties and microstructuring of polythiophenes
Photoelectrochemical microstructuring processes have been applied to various classes of semiconductors and especially to intrinsically conducting polymers such as polythiophenes. In this work, a new technique was developed for photoelectrochemical post-structuring of conducting polymers deposited on Pt and p-Si. The surface of a conducting polymer is illuminated with a focused laser beam in a non-aqueous solution in the presence of tetrabutylammonium (TBA) salts. This results in local photoelectrochemical cathodic doping of the polymer and corresponding conductivity increase. Poly-3-phenylthiophene (P3PhT) and polybithiophene (PBT) were investigated in this work. In the case of P3PhT, colourless conducting films are formed, and the post-structuring process could be visualised using conventional optical microscopy. The obtained micropatterns were stable in air and in the anodic doping region, but could be removed by repeated cycling in a potential range including both anodic and cathodic doping. The microstructures were characterised by SEM, EDAX, SECM and other techniques.
Keywords:conducting polymers;photoelectrochemistry;local modification;microstructuring;polythiophene and derivatives;cathodic doping