Fast fabrication of a WO3·2H2O thin film with improved electrochromic properties

Abstract

By using electrochemical activated FTO glass as both a substrate and catalyst, we developed a facile and fast method to fabricate a WO₃·2H₂O thin film with a thickness of ∼100 nm. Due to the specific layered crystal structure of the dihydrated phase and the good contact with the transparent conductive oxides (TCOs) layer, the as-prepared WO₃·2H₂O thin film achieved a fast coloration/bleaching response speed (t_c,90% = 3.2 s, t_b,90% = 1.2 s), excellent cyclic stability, wide optical modulation range up to 53.8% and a high coloration efficiency of 107.8 cm² C⁻¹. A solid-state electrochromic device with a size of 5 cm × 5 cm was also fabricated, exhibiting high transparency contrast and good reversibility between the bleached and colored states.