Enhancing the Cycle Life of Reversible Silver Electrodeposition Optical Devices with Durable Gold Seed Particles

Devices with light transmission that can be adjusted by reversible metal electrodeposition (RME) can be used for energy-efficient dynamic windows, eyewear, thermal camouflage, and displays. Ag RME devices with resting stability exceeding 24 h and durability of more than 7500 cycles have been reported. However, Ag RME devices employing ITO electrodes modified with Pt nanoparticles exhibit progressively slower tinting during cycling. Here, we identify the origin of this degradation, showing that Pt nanoparticles undergo oxidation during repeated operation when stripping Ag from the ITO surface. We further demonstrate that modifying ITO with durable Au nanoparticles preserves the window's switching speed and maintains the consistency of the Ag film transmission spectrum over cycling.