With the increasing interest in the application of electrochromism to flexible and wearable electronics in recent years, flexible electrochromic devices (ECDs) that can function at extreme temperatures are required. However, the functionalities of flexible ECDs are severely hampered by the inadequate choice of electrolytes, which might ultimately result in performance fading during low-and high-temperature operations. Here, we develop a deep eutectic solvent (DES)-based gel electrolyte that can maintain its optical, electrical, and mechanical properties over a wide range of temperatures (À40 to 150 C), exhibiting an extremely high visible-range transmittance over 90%, ion conductivity of 0.63 mS cm À1 , and fracture strain exceeding 2000%. Owing to the excellent processability of the DES-based electrolytes, provided by dynamic interactions such as the lithium and hydrogen bonding between the DES and polymer matrix, a directly written patterning in ECDs is realized for the first time. The fabricated ECDs exhibit an excellent electrochromic behavior superior to the behavior of the ECDs fabricated with traditional gel electrolytes.The introduction of such DES-based electrolytes is expected to pave the way for a widespread application of electrochromic products.
Resonances are ubiquitous in modern photonics, with the more familiar Fano and Fabry-Pérot resonators as key components of sophisticated optical devices with unique properties. However, the fundamental drawback of these devices is the difficulty in altering the resonance-related features of the underlying optical structures postfabrication. This study investigates an active electrochromic tungsten oxide (WO 3 )-based reconfigurable photonic structure with reversible switching between the Fano and Fabry-Pérot (F-P) resonances. This remarkable resonance switching occurs as a result of a change in the WO 3 film optical indices (n, k) via Li + intercalation/deintercalation, which can be inferred from the spectral response or dynamic reflected colors. When the bottom Ag layer's thickness is decreased from 130 to 10 nm, a semitransparent structure with unique optical properties emerges. The F-P resonant structure reflects and transmits different colors before Li + intercalation, while the Fano resonant structure reflects and transmits the same color after Li + intercalation. Along with these unique optical properties, a trans-reflective filter and beam splitter filter are also developed based on the reversible electrochromism of a fixed optical configuration.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.