Electrochemical and optical studies of the band gaps of alternating polyfluorene copolymers

The electrochemical and optical properties of a series of alternating polyfluorene copolymers with low band gaps were determined. These polymers incorporated fluorene units alternating with groups including electron-withdrawing (A) and electron-donating (D) groups in donor–acceptor–donor (DAD) sequence to achieve the lowering of band gaps. The polymers were solvent-casted on platinum disk electrode and the band gaps were estimated from cyclic voltammetry (CV). These values were compared with values obtained from optical absorption measurements. Although the electrochemically determined band gaps were found to be slightly higher than the optical band gap in most cases, values are well correlated. The values of the band gaps determined range from 2.1 to 1.3 eV.