Processability of poly 2,5-di-(-2-thienyl)pyrrole, poly(SNS)

A polyconjugated and electroactive material was electrogenerated as a film by flow of anodic currents through solutions containing the monomer 2,5-di-(-2-thienyl)pyrrole, SNS, an electrolyte (LiClO₄ or TEAClO₄) and the solvent, acetonitrile. The weight of the electropolymerized material increases linearly with the consumed charge: the electrogeneration is a faradaic process. The oxidized material is insoluble in some electrolytes but it solves by electrochemical reduction following again this electrodissolution a faradaic process. Electropolymerization and electrodissolution are not reverse processes. The polymerization involves the generation of new covalent bonds in order to create a new material, the polymer, from the monomer. The flow of an anodic current through a solution formed by electrodissolution of different films deposits again an electroactive material. This electrodeposition is the opposite process, related to the electrodissolution, meanwhile the productivity of the electropolymerization process is 1/4 that of those processes. Electrodissolution and electrodeposition mimic similar ways of processability using inorganic metals.