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Energy Saving Electrochromic Polymer Windows with a Highly Transparent Charge‐Balancing Layer
Author(s) -
Kim Younghoon,
Shin Haijin,
Han Minsu,
Seo Seogjae,
Lee Woojae,
Na Jongbeom,
Park Chihyun,
Kim Eunkyoung
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
advanced functional materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.069
H-Index - 322
eISSN - 1616-3028
pISSN - 1616-301X
DOI - 10.1002/adfm.201701192
Subject(s) - electrochromism , materials science , bistability , layer (electronics) , electrochromic devices , optoelectronics , polymer , electrode , nanoparticle , nanotechnology , composite material , chemistry
Highly transparent TiO 2 nanoparticles are explored as a non‐electrochromic (non‐EC) charge‐balancing layer for a high color contrast, bistable electrochromic window (ECW). The TiO 2 nanoparticle (TNP) layer increases the potential at the EC polymer electrode, thereby lowering the working voltage of the ECW. This leads to lower the power consumption of ECWs without loss in the high color contrast (Δ T > 72%) and to remarkably improve the cyclability (Δ T change <1% over 3000 cycles), mainly due to the low overvoltage (<0.1 V) on the electrochromic polymer layer. Furthermore, the ECWs including the non‐EC TNP layer show long‐term bistability (>2.7 h, 40% increase) and UV stability (Δ T change <1%) to provide a low‐power automatic ECW. This finding shows that the charge balanced ECP window has the potential to be used for an energy saving ECW with low‐power consumption and will be widely applied in various ECWs as well as electrochemical devices with multiple functions.