Integration of Supercapacitors to Trigger In-Situ Electropolymerization for Irreversible Visual Indicators

Abstract

Printed supercapacitors (SCs) are demonstrated to activate 1 x 1 cm2 Irreversible Visual Indicators (IVIs) based on four different monomer systems: 3,4-Ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT), bis-3,4-Ethylenedioxythiophene (BiEDOT), 2,2’- Bithiophene (Bithiophene), and 2,2‘:5’,2”-Terthiophene (Terthiophene). The key parameters which determine whether the IVIs can be fully activated (A Optical Density > 0.9) are the activation potential, the coloration efficiency (CE) of the lVI's, and the initial voltage and charge density of the SCs. All four monomer systems can be fully activated by three of the printed SCs connected in series (3.55 V), but only BiEDOT and TerThiophene can be fully activated by two series connected printed SCs (2.35 V).