Electrochromic WO3 thin films attain unprecedented durability by potentiostatic pretreatment

Abstract

Electrochromic windows and glass facades are able to impart energy efficiency jointly with indoor comfort and convenience. Long-term durability is essential for practical implementation of this technology and has recently attracted broad interest. Here we show that a simple potentiostatic pretreatment of sputter-deposited thin films of amorphous WO₃—the most widely studied electrochromic material—can yield unprecedented durability for charge exchange and optical modulation under harsh electrochemical cycling in a Li-ion-conducting electrolyte and effectively evades harmful trapping of Li. The pretreatment consisted of applying a voltage of 6.0 V vs. Li/Li⁺ for several hours to a film backed by a transparent conducting In₂O₃:Sn layer. Associated compositional and structural modifications were probed by several techniques, and improved durability was associated with elemental intermixing at the WO₃/ITO and ITO/glass boundaries as well as with carbonaceous solid-electrolyte interfacial layers on the WO₃ films. Our work provides important new insights into long-term durability of ion-exchange-based devices.