A Bistable Variable Infrared Emissivity Device Based on Reversible Silver Electrodeposition

Abstract

Reversible silver electrodeposition (RSE) can dynamically modulate visible light and infrared radiation through the reversible electrodeposition and dissolution of silver layer. However, the RSE device with bistability better than 2 h has not been reported, because the deposited silver layer may dissolve automatically without driving voltage. Here, a variable infrared emissivity device based on RSE with 24 h excellent bistability is demonstrated. A silver layer fixed at the counter electrode is used as the charge mediator, which reforms the electrochemical reactions of the counter electrode and is the key for obtaining bistability. Effects of electrolyte composition and driving voltage on the bistability are studied, and the driving voltage affects the bistability of RSE devices. This RSE device can be enlarged to 5 × 5 cm 2 with uniform emissivity change of 0.48 in 2.5-25 µm using silicon wafer as the infrared transparent working electrode substrate, and display discontinuous thermal patterns through incorporating a dielectric pattern layer. The cyclability and device failure mechanism is analyzed. With the excellent bistability, the proposed RSE devices provide great application prospects in the fields of dynamic infrared information display, adaptive infrared camouflage, and smart thermal management.

Wearable electrochromic materials and devices: from visible to infrared modulation

“…81 In addition, the reversible metal electrodeposition device (RMED) is a novel type of EC device with infrared modulation that can modulate emissivity by reversible electrodeposition of a metal layer on the transparent electrode. 107…”

Gel polymer electrolyte for reversible metal electrodeposition dynamic windows enables dual-working electrodes for faster switching and reflectivity control

“…Currently there are many technologies using electrochromic oxides and organic molecules to tune the color and transmission of the window (Barile et al, 2017). Compared with these technologies, dynamic windows based on reversible metal deposition (RME) have the advantage of potential low cost, neutral color, and great contrast ratio (Barile et al, 2017;Jeong et al, 2017;Hernandez et al, 2018;Strand et al, 2018;Hernandez et al, 2020;Eh et al, 2020;Kimura et al, 2020;Poh et al, 2021;Guo et al, 2022;Kimura et al, 2022;Song et al, 2022;Tao et al, 2022). These windows operate by the reversible electrodeposition of metals ions, e.g., Bi 3+ and Cu 2+ , to their metallic form on a Ptcoated indium tin oxide (ITO) transparent electrode.…”

Infrared Electrochromic Devices Based on Thin Metal Films

“…Emissivity is commonly modulated using infrared electrochromic devices, [13,14] which exhibit reversible changes in infrared emissivity under an applied voltage. Most such devices are based on reversible metal electrodeposition [15,16] or ion injection/extraction in metal oxides, [17] conducting polymers, [18] and graphene. [19] The magnitude of the emissivity change is an important device property and research efforts have focused on realizing large emissivity changes in a wide spectral window.In previous studies, [15] we achieved substantial emissivity modulation using metal electrodeposition.…”