Journal of Materials Science, Vol.52, No.21, 12783-12794, 2017
Electrochromic modulation of near-infrared light by WO3 films deposited on silver nanowire substrates
Silver nanowire (Ag NW) transparent conductive electrodes with high conductivity and optical transmittance are fabricated. Then, WO3 films are deposited on Ag NW electrodes by an electrochemical deposition method. The WO3/Ag NW films act as obvious optical modulators in the visible region. More importantly, the WO3/Ag NW films have distinct advantage on NIR modulation over conventional WO3/ITO electrode. Meanwhile, the WO3/Ag NW films own high electrochromic efficiency of 86.9 cm(2) C-1 at NIR region of 1100 nm. Furthermore, electrochromic devices (ECDs) based on Ag NW substrates are fabricated in this study, which exhibit excellent cycling stability and distinct modulation of near-infrared light compared with ITO-based ECDs. This work is the first study that reports the application of Ag NW-based electrochromic films and electrochromic devices in modulation of NIR light. It exhibits bright prospects that the electrochromic materials deposited on Ag NW electrodes may find potential application in thermal control and emission detectors for spacecraft.