One-step achieving high performance all-solid-state and all-in-one flexible electrochromic supercapacitor by polymer...

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Electrochemistry
• Device Engineering

Background:

• Electrochromic devices (ECDs) regulate light transmittance but suffer from complex preparation and assembly.
• Current gel/solution ECDs offer simplicity but face leakage risks and lack scalable, flexible production.
• Existing limitations hinder the practical application of ECDs in large-area, flexible formats.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel all-solid-state, all-in-one flexible electrochromic device (ECD).
• To overcome the limitations of traditional ECDs regarding preparation complexity and flexibility.
• To explore the potential of ECDs as electrochromic supercapacitors.

Main Methods:

• A polymer dispersed electrochromic device (PDECD) strategy was developed for one-step phase separation.
• The all-solid-state flexible ECD was fabricated without additional treatments.
• Industrial roller coating techniques were employed for large-area device fabrication.

Main Results:

• The fabricated flexible ECD demonstrated high stability (92.1% ΔT after 10,000 cycles), coloration efficiency (197 cm²/C), and low power consumption (86.4 μW/cm²).
• The device exhibited a satisfactory response time (≤12 s) and could function as an electrochromic supercapacitor with excellent cyclic stability (93% capacity after 3000 cycles).
• The largest reported viologen-based all-solid-state flexible ECD (17.8 × 13.2 cm²) was successfully fabricated with robust bending resistance (1000 cycles).

Conclusions:

• The novel PDECD strategy enables efficient, one-step fabrication of all-solid-state flexible ECDs.
• The developed devices show promising performance for light modulation and energy storage, suitable for large-area applications.
• The findings indicate significant potential for industrial adoption in flexible electronic displays and smart windows.