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Originally published in Science Express on 4 July 2002
Science 9 August 2002:
Vol. 297. no. 5583, pp. 983 - 987
DOI: 10.1126/science.1072651
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Research Articles

Use of Ionic Liquids for pi -Conjugated Polymer Electrochemical Devices

Wen Lu,1 Andrei G. Fadeev,1 Baohua Qi,1 Elisabeth Smela,1 Benjamin R. Mattes,1* Jie Ding,2 Geoffrey M. Spinks,2 Jakub Mazurkiewicz,2 Dezhi Zhou,2 Gordon G. Wallace,2 Douglas R. MacFarlane,3 Stewart A. Forsyth,3 Maria Forsyth3

pi -Conjugated polymers that are electrochemically cycled in ionic liquids have enhanced lifetimes without failure (up to 1 million cycles) and fast cycle switching speeds (100 ms). We report results for electrochemical mechanical actuators, electrochromic windows, and numeric displays made from three types of pi -conjugated polymers: polyaniline, polypyrrole, and polythiophene. Experiments were performed under ambient conditions, yet the polymers showed negligible loss in electroactivity. These performance advantages were obtained by using environmentally stable, room-temperature ionic liquids composed of 1-butyl-3-methyl imidazolium cations together with anions such as tetrafluoroborate or hexafluorophosphate.

1 Santa Fe Science and Technology (SFST), 3216 Richards Lane, Santa Fe, NM 87507, USA.
2 Intelligent Polymer Research Institute (IPRI), University of Wollongong, NSW, Australia.
3 Monash University, Department of Chemistry, Victoria, Australia.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: mattes{at}sfst.net

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