Spectroelectrochemical and Theoretical Tools Applied towards an Enhanced Understanding of Structure, Energetics and Dynamics of Molecules and Polymers: Polyfuranes, Polythiophenes, Polypyrroles and their Copolymers

A brief selective, introductory overview of applications of non-classical, in particular spectroelectrochemical and theoretical, methods, to various challenges from interfacial and materials electrochemistry as well as electrochemical and chemical kinetics and thermodynamics is provided including representative illustrating examples with particular attention to intrinsically conducting polymers. Going beyond previously well established applications of spectroscopic methods in determination of molecular structure (in particular vibrational spectroscopies) and electrooptical properties (UV-Vis spectroscopy) thermodynamic data (formal redox potentials, oxidation and reduction potentials of monomer and polymer transformations) and supramolecular interactions are studied with various spectroscopic methods combined with theoretical tools like density functional theory and ab initio calculations. Selected examples particularly useful to illustrate these possibilities from recent studies of polythiophenes, polyfurans, polypyrroles and their respective copolymers are briefly reviewed.