Building Block for Electrochromic Devices

Selenophene has lower oxidation potential and higher electron donating character than thiophene. Hence, conjugate selenophene polymers have been attracting attention as new functional materials. Toppare et al. have reported the synthesis of the conjugate selenophene polymer, prepared from selenophene as a starting material. Furthermore, the film device fabricated from this polymer exhibits a good electrochromic property with a color change (rose-colored at 0.0 V and blue-colored at 1.3 V) and a fast response time (0.5–0.6 second), keeping the electroactivity almost intact even after 2,000 cycles.