Electrodeposition in organic system and properties of NiO electrochromic films

By electrodeposition in organic system, NiO films with reversible electrochromic property were fabricated. Fluorine-doped tin oxide glass slices were used as substrates, i.e. cathodes. Cyclic voltammetry and ultraviolet-visible transmission spectroscopy were adopted to study the electrochromic properties of the films. High resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) was employed to analyze the composition and structure of the films. It is found that the films are composed of fine NiO crystal grains of a few nanometers in diameter, endowing them with large visible light transmittance variation, rapid switch rate (i.e. rapid response time) between the bleached and colored states. Their cycling durability reached 6000 cycles.