Polymer-modified electrodes: a new class of electrochromic materials

A new class of organic polymeric thin-film electrochromic materials is described. We show that the new polymer-modified electrodes change color reversibly in permanent thin-film form without the electrodeposition characteristics of organic liquid state systems such as the viologens. The polymer films exhibit good switching speeds (τ⩽100 ms), possess intrinsic memory, and show no chemical degradation or adhesion loss in preliminary life tests (104 cycles). It is demonstrated that several important electrochromic parameters can be varied by chemical modification of the polymeric material.