Preparation and Electrochromic Properties of WO3 Films Based on Porous ITO Electrodes

doi:10.15541/jim20240531

Abstract

Abstract: Electrochromic smart windows enable the regulation of the indoor light through modulating the optical transmittance of electrochromic materials for realizing the energy-saving buildings. Amorphous tungsten oxide (WO₃) film fabricated by magnetron sputtered technology are the most likely to be industrialized due to its advantages of the large-area and uniform deposition. However, the electrochromic characteristics of the sputtered WO₃ film lags behind those of the solution-process approach due to inefficient ions transport arising from its intrinsically dense atomic structure. In this work, we propose a strategy to develop microstructured magnetron-sputtered WO₃ films by introducing the buried porous electrodes for improving the optical modulation and switching time. The results demonstrate that the microstructured sputtered WO₃ films prepared by this method exhibit significantly enhanced electrochromic characteristics compared with that of the dense WO₃ films. When the thickness of microstructured WO₃ was increased to 300 nm, the optimized electrochromic characteristics were achieved, with a remarkable optical modulation up to 79.08%, colouring and bleaching times of only 2.6 s and 2.0 s, and a high colouring efficiency of 52.5 C/cm². The improved performance is mainly attributed to the synergistic effect of the porous ITO (Indium Tin Oxides, ITO) electrode and the microstructured WO₃ film. The porous ITO electrode can increase the surface area with the WO₃ component and then increases electronic charges injected into WO₃ film, facilitating the redox reaction process. Moreover, the microstructured WO₃ film offers a larger surface area with the electrolyte, increases reactive active sites and shortens ions diffusion pathway, which accelerates the ion diffusion and migration process, realizing efficient redox reactions and fast ion transport. This work provides an effective method for preparing high-performance micro- and nanostructured sputtered electrochromic films.

Key words: electrochromism, magnetron sputtering, ITO electrode, porous WO₃

CLC Number:

TQ174

YANG Guang, ZHANG Nan, CHEN Shujin, WANG Yi, XIE An, YAN Yujie. Preparation and Electrochromic Properties of WO₃ Films Based on Porous ITO Electrodes[J]. Journal of Inorganic Materials, DOI: 10.15541/jim20240531.

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Preparation and Electrochromic Properties of WO₃ Films Based on Porous ITO Electrodes

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