AC-Bipolar Electrosynthesis and Luminol Electrochemiluminescence Imaging of Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) and Its Composite Films

Herein, we report the in-plane growth of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)(PEDOT) thin films and their composites, such as PEDOT-copper (PEDOT-Cu)and PEDOT-polythiophene (PEDOT-PT), on a nonconductive substrate byalternating current (AC)-bipolar electropolymerization and their subsequentuse as wireless electrodes for the generation of luminol electrochemiluminescence(ECL). By using a gold (Au) wire as a bipolar electrode (BPE), a PEDOTfilm was initially fabricated exploiting the aforementioned electrochemicaltechnique. Successively, the fabrication of PEDOT-Cu or PEDOT-PT compositefilms was accomplished by a subsequent AC-bipolar electrolysis step,where the PEDOT film was employed as a BPE to drive the cathodic electrodepositionof copper particles or the anodic electropolymerization of thiophene,respectively. Additionally, all polymer films were further employedas BPEs for the wireless generation of luminol ECL, which resultedin an intense light emission that could be imaged with a common digitalcamera. Interestingly, we have found that the intensity and spatialdistribution of light emission generated from the ECL reaction revealedcharacteristics of the different polymer films that can be correlatedwith the conductivity and composition of the material.