Electrochromic Performance of V2O5 Thin Films Grown by Spray Pyrolysis

Effect of Electrolyte Concentration on the Electrochemical Performance of Spray Deposited LiFePO4

LiFePO₄ is a common electrode cathode material that still needs some improvements regarding its electronic conductivity and the synthesis process in order to be easily scalable. In this work, a simple, multiple-pass deposition technique was utilized in which the spray-gun was moved across the substrate creating a "wet film", in which-after thermal annealing at very mild temperatures (i.e., 65 °C)-a LiFePO₄ cathode was formed on graphite. The growth of the LiFePO₄ layer was confirmed via X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The layer was thick, consisting of agglomerated non-uniform flake-like particles with an average diameter of 1.5 to 3 μm. The cathode was tested in different LiOH concentrations of 0.5 M, 1 M, and 2 M, indicating an quasi-rectangular and nearly symmetric shape ascribed to non-faradaic charging processes, with the highest ion transfer for 2 M LiOH (i.e., 6.2 × 10^-9 cm²/cm). Nevertheless, the 1 M aqueous LiOH electrolyte presented both satisfactory ion storage and stability. In particular, the diffusion coefficient was estimated to be 5.46 × 10^-9 cm²/s, with 12 mAh/g and a 99% capacity retention rate after 100 cycles.

Applied IrO2 Buffer Layer as a Great Promoter on Ti-Doping V2O5 Electrode to Enhance Electrochromic Device Properties

Electrochromic devices (ECDs) are a promising material for smart windows that are capable of transmittance variation. However, ECDs are still too expensive to achieve a wide market reach. Reducing fabrication cost remains a challenge. In this study, we inserted an IrO₂ buffer layer on Ti-doped V₂O₅ (Ti:V₂O₅) as a counter electrode using various Ar/O₂ gas flow ratios (1/2, 1/2.5, 1/3 and 1/3.5) in the fabrication process. The buffered-ECD resulted in a larger cyclic voltammetry (CV) area and the best surface average roughness (Ra = 3.91 nm) to promote electrochromic performance. It was fabricated using the low-cost, fast deposition process of vacuum cathodic arc plasma (CAP). This study investigates the influence of the IrO₂ buffer/Ti:V₂O₅ electrode on ECD electrochemical and optical properties, in terms of color efficiency (CE) and cycle durability. The buffered ECD (glass/ITO/WO₃/liquid electrolyte/IrO₂ buffer/Ti:V₂O₅/ITO/glass) demonstrated excellent optical transmittance modulation; ∆T = 57% (from T_bleaching (67%) to T_coloring (10%)) at 633 nm, which was higher than without the buffer (ITO/WO₃/liquid electrolyte/Ti:V₂O₅/ITO) (∆T = 36%). In addition, by means of an IrO₂ buffer, the ECD exhibited high coloration efficiency of 96.1 cm²/mC and good durability, which decayed by only 2% after 1000 cycles.

Thermal Annealing Effects of V2O5 Thin Film as an Ionic Storage Layer for Electrochromic Application

A vanadium pentoxide (V₂O₅) thin film with thermal annealing as an ionic storage layer for electrochromic devices is presented in our study. The V₂O₅ thin film was deposited on an ITO glass substrate by an RF magnetron sputtering. The electrochromic properties of the film were evaluated after various thermal annealing temperatures. The structural analysis of the film was observed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission electron microscopy (FE-SEM), and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The structure of the V₂O₅ thin film transformed from an amorphous to polycrystalline structure with directions of (110) and (020) after 400 °C thermal annealing. The electrochromic properties of the film improved compared with the unannealed V₂O₅ thin film. We obtained a charge capacity of 97.9 mC/cm² with a transparent difference ΔT value of 31% and coloration efficiency of 6.3 cm²/C after 400 °C thermal annealing. The improvement was due to the polycrystalline orthorhombic structure formation of V₂O₅ film by the rearrangement of atoms from thermal energy. Its laminate structure facilitates Li⁺ ion intercalation and increases charge capacity and transparent difference.

WO3 Films Grown by Spray Pyrolysis for Smart Windows Applications

WO3 nanostructured thin films were grown using spray deposition on FTO coated glass. The effect of the precursor concentration and the solution quantity, which determines the deposition time, on the electrochemical, electrochromic and optical properties of the WO3 films was investigated. The films were found to exhibit a good electrochromic activity with a reasonably good durability of charge exchange and optical modulation under harsh electrochemical cycling in Li-ion-conducting electrolyte. Associated compositional and structural characteristics were probed by several techniques, indicating that the observed improved durability may be due to the unique WO3 thin films’ structuring, the surface of the films consisting of wall-like structures combined with bubble-like islands on a polycrystalline WO3 granular background, that requires further study in greater detail.

Annealing Effect on the Properties of Electrochromic V2O5 Thin Films Grown by Spray Deposition Technique

Nanostructured electrochromic V₂O₅ thin films were prepared using spray pyrolysis technique growth at a temperature of 250 °C using air-carrier spray deposition, starting from ammonium metavanadate precursor in water, followed by annealing at 400 °C in O₂ atmosphere for 2 h. The V₂O₅ films were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and Raman spectroscopy, and their electrochromic behavior was studied using optical spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry in both the as-deposited and postannealing case. The studies showed that the simple, cost -effective, suitable for large area deposition method used can lead to an interesting surface structuring with large active surface properties suitable for electrochromic applications. Further studies for growth optimization and improvements of films properties and stability are to be performed.

Special Issue: Advances in Chemical Vapor Deposition

Pursuing a scalable production methodology for materials and advancing it from the laboratory to industry is beneficial to novel daily-life applications. From this perspective, chemical vapor deposition (CVD) offers a compromise between efficiency, controllability, tunability and excellent run-to-run repeatability in the coverage of monolayer on substrates. Hence, CVD meets all the requirements for industrialization in basically everything including polymer coatings, metals, water-filtration systems, solar cells and so on. The Special Issue “Advances in Chemical Vapor Deposition” has been dedicated to giving an overview of the latest experimental findings and identifying the growth parameters and characteristics of perovskites, TiO₂, Al₂O₃, VO₂ and V₂O₅ with desired qualities for potentially useful devices.