Cycling durability and potentiostatic rejuvenation of electrochromic tungsten oxide thin films : Effect of silica nanoparticles in LiClO4-Propylene carbonate electrolytes

Electrochromic (EC) technology allows control of the transmission of visible light and solar radiation through thin-film devices. When applied to “smart” windows, EC technology can significantly diminish energy use for cooling and air conditioning of buildings and simultaneously provide good indoor comfort for the buildings’ occupants through reduced glare. EC “smart” windows are available on the market, but it is nevertheless important that their degradation under operating conditions be better understood and, ideally, prevented. In the present work, we investigated EC properties, voltammetric cycling durability, and potentiostatic rejuvenation of sputter-deposited WO3 thin films immersed in LiClO4–propylene carbonate electrolytes containing up to 3.0 wt% of ∼7-nm-diameter SiO2 nanoparticles. Adding about 1 wt% SiO2 led to a significant improvement in cycling durability in the commonly used potential range of 2.0–4.0 V vs. Li/Li+. Furthermore, X-ray photoemission spectroscopy indicated that O–Si bonds were associated with enhanced durability in the presence of SiO2 nanoparticles.