Enhanced Electrochromic Performance by Uniform Surface Morphology of Tungsten Oxide Films

Abstract

Tungsten oxide(WO3) films with uniform surface morphology are fabricated using a spin-coating method for applications of electrochromic(EC) devices. To improve the EC performances of the WO3 films, we control the heating rate of the annealing process to 10, 5, and 1 oC/min. Compared to the other samples, the WO3 films fabricated at a heating rate of 5 oC/min shows superior EC performances for transmittance modulation(49.5 %), response speeds(8.3 s in a colored state and 11.2 s in a bleached state), and coloration efficiency(37.3 cm2/C). This performance improvement is mainly related to formation of a uniform surface morphology with increased particle size without any cracks by an optimized annealing heating rate, which improves the electrical conductivity and electrochemical activity of the WO3 films. Thus, the WO3 films with a uniform surface morphology prepared by the optimized annealing heating rate can be used as a potential candidate for performance improvement of the EC devices.