Effect of polydopamine on electrochromic performance of WO3 films.

In order to study the effects of the addition of different volume PDA in electrolyte on the electrochromic properties of composite films, composite films constructed by tungsten oxide (WO3) and (PDA) are prepared by constant voltage electrochemical deposition on Indium in oxide (ITO) substrate. The structure and properties of the composite films are characterized by infrared spectrometer (FT-TR), atomic force microscope (AFM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and cyclic voltammetry (CV). Electrochemical workstation and UV-visible absorption spectroscopy are used to investigate the electrochromic properties of composite films added different volume PDA in the voltage range of -1.0-+ 0.8 V. The results show that the as-prepared composite film in 25 mL pertungstic acid (PTA) electrolyte with 1.17 µg/mL PDA has outstanding performance, for which the optical contrast is 77%, response time for coloring and bleaching are 7.0 and 5.5 s, respectively. After 1200 cycles, the optical contrast reaches 80% of the first cycle, implying is excellent cycle stability. This work may play a guidance role for introducing self-healing properties into WO3 electrochromic composite film. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]