High-content photochromic polymers based on dithienylethenes

Dithienylethenes (DTEs) are one of the most promising classes of photochromic compounds for use in optoelectronic devices such as waveguides, memory media and sensors. The development of DTE based polymers that contain a high mass-content of the photoactive DTE component, that maintain their photochromic activity in the solid-state and that are easily processed into thin-films under a variety of conditions is critical for the implementation of the materials into useful applications. This Microieview provides an overview of the current approaches for preparing DTE-based polymers and discusses some of the problems associated with the resulting materials such as poor solubility, low DTE content and poor photochromic activity. We present specific examples from our own research, which highlight our research group's contributions.