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Title: High-contrast and fast electrochromic switching enabled by plasmonics

Journal Article · · Nature Communications
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms10479· OSTI ID:1260969
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [3];  [2];  [2];  [3];  [4]
  1. Nanjing Univ., Nanjing (China); National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD (United States); Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States)
  2. National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD (United States); Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States)
  3. National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD (United States)
  4. National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD (United States); Sandia National Lab. (SNL-CA), Livermore, CA (United States)

With vibrant colours and simple, room-temperature processing methods, electrochromic polymers have attracted attention as active materials for flexible, low-power-consuming devices. But, slow switching speeds in devices realized to date, as well as the complexity of having to combine several distinct polymers to achieve a full-colour gamut, have limited electrochromic materials to niche applications. We achieve fast, high-contrast electrochromic switching by significantly enhancing the interaction of light—propagating as deep-subwavelength-confined surface plasmon polaritons through arrays of metallic nanoslits, with an electrochromic polymer—present as an ultra-thin coating on the slit sidewalls. Furthermore, the switchable configuration retains the short temporal charge-diffusion characteristics of thin electrochromic films, while maintaining the high optical contrast associated with thicker electrochromic coatings. We also demonstrate that by controlling the pitch of the nanoslit arrays, it is possible to achieve a full-colour response with high contrast and fast switching speeds, while relying on just one electrochromic polymer.

Research Organization:
Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Nanostructures for Electrical Energy Storage (NEES); Sandia National Lab. (SNL-CA), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0001160; AC04-94AL85000; 70NANB10H193
OSTI ID:
1260969
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1338383
Report Number(s):
SAND2016-12382J; ncomms10479
Journal Information:
Nature Communications, Vol. 7; ISSN 2041-1723
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 199 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (43)

Electrochromic Effect in Titanium Carbide MXene Thin Films Produced by Dip‐Coating journal February 2019
Multifunctional Energy Storage and Conversion Devices journal July 2016
Advanced Plasmonic Materials for Dynamic Color Display journal November 2017
Bioinspired Stimuli-Responsive Color-Changing Systems journal April 2018
Metasurface Reconfiguration through Lithium-Ion Intercalation in a Transition Metal Oxide journal November 2016
Dynamic Plasmonic Color Generation Based on Phase Transition of Vanadium Dioxide journal February 2018
Near-Ultraviolet Structural Colors Generated by Aluminum Nanodisk Array for Bright Image Printing journal May 2018
Electrochromic-Polymer-Based Switchable Plasmonic Color Devices Using Surface-Relief Nanostructure Pixels journal October 2018
Methodologies for On‐Demand Dispersion Engineering of Waves in Metasurfaces journal March 2019
Hexaarylbutadiene: A Versatile Scaffold with Tunable Redox Properties towards Organic Near‐Infrared Electrochromic Material journal April 2020
The Effect of Oligo(Ethylene Oxide) Side Chains: A Strategy to Improve Contrast and Switching Speed in Electrochromic Polymers journal January 2020
Recent Advances in Flexible Electrochromic Devices: Prerequisites, Challenges, and Prospects journal November 2017
From active plasmonic devices to plasmonic molecular electronics journal October 2018
Control of morphology and performance of diketopyrrolopyrrole-based electrochromic polymers using solvent vapor annealing journal February 2018
Review of Metasurface Plasmonic Structural Color journal October 2016
Plasmonic colour generation journal November 2016
Dynamic plasmonic colour display journal February 2017
Colorless-to-colorful switching electrochromic polyimides with very high contrast ratio journal March 2019
2D organic molecular metallic soft material derived from BEDO-TTF with electrochromic and rectifying properties journal November 2018
Latest advances in supercapacitors: from new electrode materials to novel device designs journal January 2017
Enriched optimization of molecular properties under constraints: an electrochromic example journal January 2018
Transmissive-to-black fast electrochromic switching from a long conjugated pendant group and a highly dispersed polymer/SWNT journal January 2018
Extraordinary optical fields in nanostructures: from sub-diffraction-limited optics to sensing and energy conversion journal January 2019
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Flexible electrochromic energy-saving windows with fast switching and bistability based on a transparent solid-state electrolyte journal January 2019
Heterogeneous forward and backward scattering modulation by polymer-infused plasmonic nanohole arrays journal January 2019
Donor–acceptor copolymers containing bithiophene and dithiophenylthienothiadiazole units with fast electrochromic response journal January 2019
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Broadband enhancement of photoluminance from colloidal metal halide perovskite nanocrystals on plasmonic nanostructured surfaces journal November 2017

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