Electropolymerization of 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene and 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene methanol in the presence of dodecylbenzenesulfonate

Electropolymerization of 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene (EDT) and its hydroxymethyl derivative (EDTM) was carried out in sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate aqueous solution by cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry on a platinum electrode. PEDTM seems to be irreversibly damaged at lower potentials than PEDT (+1.2 V/SCE versus +1.4 V/SCE, respectively). Moreover, scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) and surface profiling revealed a higher compaction for PEDTM films. Nevertheless, these films stopped growing for a charge of about 80 mC cm−2 as demonstrated by a UV-Vis spectrophotometric study.