A Scalable, Robust Polyvinyl‐Butyral‐Based Solid Polymer Electrolyte with Outstanding Ionic Conductivity for Laminated Large‐Area WO₃–NiO Electrochromic Devices

Abstract

Polyvinyl butyral (PVB) is a well-established polymer interlayer material that has been used in laminated safety glass panels for over 80 years. However, its intrinsically poor ionic conductivity (σ) severely restricts its widespread application as a solid polymer electrolyte (SPE) for laminated WO 3 -NiO electrochromic devices (ECDs). Here, a new strategy for significantly improving the σ of PVB via a cross-linking reaction with 3-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane (KH560) is presented. The cross-linked PVB-SPE with 10 wt.% KH560 exhibits the highest room-temperature σ value among the investigated samples (1.51 × 10 −4 S cm −1 ), which is also higher than that of previously reported PVBbased SPEs (10 −5 -10 −7 S cm −1 ). Additionally, the prepared SPE exhibits comprehensive optical, mechanical, and thermal performances, including a high visible transmittance (>91%), relatively high adhesive strength (2.13 MPa), and superior thermal stability (up to 150 °C). Laminated WO 3 -NiO ECDs with dimensions of 5 × 5 cm 2 and 20 × 20 cm 2 , fabricated by leveraging the aforementioned properties of the electrolyte, operate stably at temperatures ranging from −20 to 80 °C, underscoring the potential of the PVB-SPE for realizing commercially viable large-area ECDs.