Electrochromic device

While working at Balzers in Lichtenstein, T. Kraus provided a detailed description of the electrochemical coloration in a thin film of tungsten trioxide (WO3) on 30 July 1953.

In fact, the real birth of the EC technology is usually attributed to S. K. Deb’s seminal paper of 1973, wherein he described the coloration mechanism in WO3.

Optical absorption occurs when electrons move into the EC layers from the transparent conductors along with charge balancing ions entering from the electrolyte.

Tungsten Oxide is known to be a standard material used for electrochromic devices because of its wide optical window, ranging from 400-630 nm, and prolonged cyclic stability on the order of thousands of cycles.

This processing method shows promising cyclic stability as it will last up to thirty five thousand cycles which is greater than that of regular WO3 since new ligand formation promotes plasmonic tuning in nanoparticle electrochemistry.

In addition to this, electrochromic coating efficiency is directly dependent on the growth kinetics of such thin-film layers since thinner films, and non-even coatings, have a lower optical signal compared to the thicker films with more uniformity having more control and experience a greater optical signal.

[8] The tungsten oxide and Prussian Blue layers form the positive and negative ends of a battery using the incoming light energy.

As soon as glare makes contact with the surface, these mirrors automatically dim reflections of flashing light from following vehicles at night so that a driver can see them without discomfort.

Electrochromic devices do have advantages over materials synthesized to produce LCD based optoelectronics, such as consuming little to no power in producing images and the same amount of power is needed to keep present displays, and there is no restriction to the size of such a device since it is dependent on manufacturing capability and number of electrodes.

[11] Other applications include dynamically tinting goggles and motorcycle helmet visors, and special paper for drawing on with a stylus.