A vanadium oxide (VO) film was prepared on indium tin oxide (ITO) glass using a simple electrophoretic method and the VO film and its device demonstrated multicolor electrochromic properties of yellow, green, orange-red, and their intermediate colors. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS) were employed to characterize the composition of the as-prepared films. The ratio of V5+/V4+ in the XPS is significantly different in the yellow, green, and orange-red states and this ratio can be adjusted by applied voltages. The detailed effect of calcination temperature as a post-treatment method on the electrochromic performance of VO film was explored. With the increase of calcination temperature, the optical modulation ability of the films was enhanced, and the color change contrast of the films was most obvious at 200 °C. Meanwhile, the cyclic stability of the VO films was also enhanced. The cyclic voltammetry (CV) curves show that the prepared V2O5 films have high cyclic stability at a calcination temperature of 300 °C. The color efficiency (CE) values of the VO devices were 3.4 cm2C-1 (from initial yellow to green) and 21.6 cm2C-1 (from green to orange-red) at 700 nm, and the coloring time (Tc) and bleaching time (Tb) of the VO devices were 6 s and 10 s, respectively. This work develops a simple and environmentally friendly method to prepare VO films and their devices with multicolor electrochromic properties.
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