Lithium-titanate-nanotube-supported WO3 for enhancing transmittance contrast in electrochromics

摘要

Lithium titanate nanotubes (Li-TNTs) have been successfully synthesized. The inner and outer diameters of the nanotubes are 5 nm and 8 nm with an interlayer spacing of 0.83 nm. The nanotubes were in accordance with the Li1.81H0.19Ti2O5 center dot xH(2)O phase. The chemical component was Li0.9H1.1Ti2O5 center dot H2O as determined by ICP-AES. The Li-TNT-supported WO3 nanoparticle (WO3/Li-TNTs) thin film was prepared onto ITO glass via spin-coating and then fabricated with an electrochromic device. The Li ion diffusion coefficient in the WO3/Li-TNT film was 6.1. x. 10(-10) cm(2) s(-1), which is eight times higher than that for the pure WO3 film. The transmittance contrast of the pure WO3-based ECD was 53.3% at 600 nm. However, this increased to 74.1% for the WO3/Li-TNT-based ECD. Meanwhile, the color-switching times of the WO3/Li-TNT-based ECD were apparently shorter than the ones for the WO3-based ECD.