Intercalation-free, fast switching of mesoporous antimony doped tin oxide with cathodically coloring electrochromic dyes

Abstract

Mesoporous nanoparticle layers of transparent conductive oxides (TCOs) with anchored organic dyes are of great interest for electrochromic applications. Herein, we prepared mesoporous layers of antimony doped tin oxide (ATO) consisting of only 5 nm large particles with a low Sb concentration (2% antimony). The particles were prepared via a modified synthesis procedure based on hexahydroxostannate and pure Sb(v) hexahydroxoantimonate(v). We show that the ATO layers benefit from using a non-intercalating electrolyte such as tetrabutylammonium perchlorate (TBAP) compared to lithium perchlorate. Especially in the negative potential range, negative side effects, such as degradation due to lithium intercalation, are reduced. Furthermore, comparing the behavior of particles with varying antimony doping concentrations showed that the particles doped with 2% Sb are most suitable with respect to their conductivity and transparency. When modified with an electrochromic dye (viologen), the hybrid electrodes allow fully reversible (de)coloration with the non-intercalating electrolyte. Similar viologen/TiO2 electrodes on the other hand show severely restricted performance with the non-intercalating electrolyte as the oxidation of the dye is partially inhibited. Finally, we built a full electrochromic device composed of two ATO electrodes, each bearing a different electrochromic dye with TBAP as the electrolyte. Despite the dense morphology of the layers due to the small particle size as well as the large size of the electrolyte cation, the device displays remarkable switching times below 0.5 s.