Comparison of Electrodeposited and Sputtered Tungsten Trioxide Films for Inorganic Electrochromic Nanostructures

Electrochromic materials and their implementation with structural colors are currently being intensely researched because of their promising applications as non-emissive display devices utilizing ambient light. In particular, several fully inorganic devices that rely on electrochromic tungsten trioxide (WO3) have been presented. For preparing nanoscale films of this material, sputtering is the most established technique, but electrodeposition has recently been shown to be capable of achieving exceptionally high electro-optical modulation contrast without the need for expensive equipment. In this work, we investigate the possibilities of electrodeposited WO3 and present a systematic comparison with sputtered WO3 with respect to performance in electrochromic devices. Importantly, we show that “ultralarge” electro-optical modulation (∼95% change in transmission) is possible for both types of films. However, it is only the sputtered films that enable such high contrast in a stable electrolyte such as LiClO4 in propylene carbonate. The electrodeposited films are less uniform and difficult to make thicker than ∼500 nm. We find no evidence that the electrochromic properties of the electrodeposited WO3 are intrinsically better than those of sputtered WO3. However, the electrodeposited films are much rougher and/or porous on the nanoscale, which increases the switching speed considerably. We conclude that electrodeposited WO3 is mainly useful in applications in which high contrast is not essential while switching speed is. As an example, we present the first electrodeposited WO3 integrated with structural colors by sandwiching the material between two metal films. By electrical control, the reflective colors can then be tuned at least one order of magnitude faster (a few seconds) than previously reported while having fair color quality and without any loss of brightness.