Bioinspired Dynamic Camouflage from Colloidal Nanocrystals Embedded Electrochromics

Chen, Ke; He, Jiazhi; Zhang, Di; You, Lijun; Li, Xuefei; Wang, Haiyan; Mei, Jianguo

doi:10.1021/acs.nanolett.1c01419

Cited by 43 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…An interesting artificial skin-like camouflage material was very recently reported. It is a multi-component hybrid system consisting of green photonic nanocrystals embedded into a gel electrolyte and assembled between the layer of the EC polymer and an ion-storage layer . As a result, the device demonstrated chameleon-like properties: active change of appearance due to the voltage-controlled EC color change and passive morphing into the environment that depends on the structural background and viewing angles.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Post-Synthetic Color Tuning of the Ultra-Effective and Highly Stable Surface-Confined Electrochromic Monolayer: Shades of Green for Camouflage Materials

Laschuk

Ebralidze

Easton

et al. 2021

ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces

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We report here on the strategy for the preparation of a series of electrochromic (EC) materials in green shades designed for camouflage purposes. This top-down post-synthetic modification provides access to new EC materials by fine modulation of the color of the surface-confined metalorganic monolayer pre-deposited on indium tin oxide screen-printed supports. Selective on-surface N-quaternization of the outer pyridine unit of the EC metal complex covalently embedded onto an enhanced surface area electrode results in a bathochromic shift of the absorbance signal as well as visual color change from blue to different shades of green. When assembled into solid-state EC devices (ECDs), the materials demonstrate high color differences between colored and bleached states and significant differences in optical density. Upon electrochemical switching, the ECDs initially featuring different shades of green become yellowish or clay. The accessible gamut of colors, fulfilling the requirements for chameleon-like camouflage materials, is able to mimic conditions of various natural environments including forests and sands. Notably, ECDs demonstrate high long-term durability (95% retention of the performance after 3300 cycles), fast coloration (0.6−1.1 s), and bleaching (1.2−3.3 s) times and outstanding coloration efficiencies of 1018−1513 cm 2 /C. Importantly, post-synthetic N-quaternization/color tuning does not deteriorate the performance of the resulting EC materials and devices as judged by cyclic voltammetry, spectroelectrochemistry, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. This work adds to the limited number of reports that explore color tuning of EC molecular layers via on-surface modification with the aim to access new non-symmetric materials. Notably, the facile and straightforward technology presented here allows the creation of green-colored EC materials that are difficult to prepare in other ways.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Post-Synthetic Color Tuning of the Ultra-Effective and Highly Stable Surface-Confined Electrochromic Monolayer: Shades of Green for Camouflage Materials

Laschuk

Ebralidze

Easton

et al. 2021

ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces

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Section: Electrochromic Materials and Devicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Introducing related physical structures to electrolytes can also achieve this goal. For example, Jianguo Mei’s research group reported colloidal nanocrystal (containing SiO 2 nanoparticles) embedded electrolytes in electrochromics . In their work, the as-prepared electrolytes achieved passive structural-color change according to the background colors (e.g., marble or white backgrounds).…”

Section: Electrochromic Materials and Devicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Emerging Electrochromic Materials and Devices for Future Displays

et al. 2022

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With the rapid development of optoelectronic fields, electrochromic (EC) materials and devices have received remarkable attention and have shown attractive potential for use in emerging wearable and portable electronics, electronic papers/billboards, see-through displays, and other new-generation displays, due to the advantages of low power consumption, easy viewing, flexibility, stretchability, etc. Despite continuous progress in related fields, determining how to make electrochromics truly meet the requirements of mature displays (e.g., ideal overall performance) has been a long-term problem. Therefore, the commercialization of relevant high-quality products is still in its infancy. In this review, we will focus on the progress in emerging EC materials and devices for potential displays, including two mainstream EC display prototypes (segmented displays and pixel displays) and their commercial applications. Among these topics, the related materials/devices, EC performance, construction approaches, and processing techniques are comprehensively disscussed and reviewed. We also outline the current barriers with possible solutions and discuss the future of this field.

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“…[1][2][3][4][5] The reversible color change is induced by electrochemical oxidation and reduction reactions. Several electrochromic devices have been developed for various commercial applications, such as optical sensors, [6] electronic tags, [7] color displays, [8] mirrors, [9] camouflage, [10] and smart windows. [11][12][13] Amongst the electrochromic devices, those that incorporate plasmonic nanomaterials are by at a low voltage, where metal adatoms and adlayers are formed on the solid substrate at a potential that is positive relative to the metal's equilibrium (i.e., Nernst) reduction potential.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[ 1–5 ] The reversible color change is induced by electrochemical oxidation and reduction reactions. Several electrochromic devices have been developed for various commercial applications, such as optical sensors, [ 6 ] electronic tags, [ 7 ] color displays, [ 8 ] mirrors, [ 9 ] camouflage, [ 10 ] and smart windows. [ 11–13 ] Amongst the electrochromic devices, those that incorporate plasmonic nanomaterials are by far the most intriguing.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nanoscale Manipulating Silver Adatoms for Aqueous Plasmonic Electrochromic Devices

Zhang

Elezzabi

2022

Adv Materials Inter

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far the most intriguing. Through electrochemical control from the application of voltage stimuli, dynamic color displays, generated by noble metal nanoparticles (e.g., Ag, Au), have been realized in a variety of platforms. [14][15][16][17] This class of electrochromic devices not only can switch between multiple colors but also retains their colored states without the need for external electrical power. [18][19][20][21] While the electrochromic displays, based on organic molecules, [22][23] polymers, [24][25][26] or transition metal oxides, [27][28][29][30] have demonstrated multicolor characteristics, these devices exhibit inferior cycling stability compared to reversible metal deposition (RME). [31][32][33] Such a limitation hindered their practical applications and their potential commercialization. With the advancement of nanofabrication processes of various plasmonic metal nanostructures, the coming age of electrochromic RME plasmonic high-resolution color displays is appearing on the near horizon. [34][35][36] Recently, Ag nanoparticles, having tunable nano structures, along with their localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR), have been investigated for multicolor electrochromic films. [17][18]37] Compared to the nonmetallic-based electrochromic materials, whose optical indices are altered through ions intercalation or redox reactions, [38][39][40] various LSPR color bands are tuned by manipulating the size and shape of the Ag nanoparticles. [19,41] However, to realize stable and reversible Ag nanoparticles electrodeposition, these LSPR-based electrochromic displays are administered in nonaqueous electrolyte environments that require high electrodeposition voltage. [17][18][19] As such, this platform is far from being energy-efficient and reliable, especially when considering large-area displays. [42] Notably, for a wide scope of applications, it is highly desirable to have a dynamically reconfigurable plasmochromic device operating at a safe low voltage window (i.e., aqueous electrolyte compatible platform) [43][44] while also offering precise manipulation of Ag adatoms to prevent nucleation and growth on the displaying substrate.To circumvent these challenges, an underpotential metal electrodeposition process (UPMD) needs to be explored as a candidate to precisely manipulate the growth of Ag atoms at the interface between a substrate and the electrolyte. The UPMD process occurs as a result of the strong adatom/substrate adsorption between the electrodeposited metal and the solid substrate. [45] The reduction of a metal cation can be achieved Plasmonic colors are attractive building blocks for flat panel displays due to their broad color gamut and unprecedented subwavelength resolution. The exploration of reversible silver (Ag) electrodeposition for switchable plasmonic colors is considered as a promising strategy toward dynamically reconfigurable color displays. To date, the current reversible Ag electrodeposition-based electrochromic devices are energy-inefficient as the platforms are realized in nonaq...

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Bioinspired Dynamic Camouflage from Colloidal Nanocrystals Embedded Electrochromics

Cited by 43 publications

References 37 publications

Post-Synthetic Color Tuning of the Ultra-Effective and Highly Stable Surface-Confined Electrochromic Monolayer: Shades of Green for Camouflage Materials

Post-Synthetic Color Tuning of the Ultra-Effective and Highly Stable Surface-Confined Electrochromic Monolayer: Shades of Green for Camouflage Materials

Emerging Electrochromic Materials and Devices for Future Displays

Nanoscale Manipulating Silver Adatoms for Aqueous Plasmonic Electrochromic Devices

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