Nanoscale Manipulating Silver Adatoms for Aqueous Plasmonic Electrochromic Devices

Abstract

far the most intriguing. Through electrochemical control from the application of voltage stimuli, dynamic color displays, generated by noble metal nanoparticles (e.g., Ag, Au), have been realized in a variety of platforms. [14][15][16][17] This class of electrochromic devices not only can switch between multiple colors but also retains their colored states without the need for external electrical power. [18][19][20][21] While the electrochromic displays, based on organic molecules, [22][23] polymers, [24][25][26] or transition metal oxides, [27][28][29][30] have demonstrated multicolor characteristics, these devices exhibit inferior cycling stability compared to reversible metal deposition (RME). [31][32][33] Such a limitation hindered their practical applications and their potential commercialization. With the advancement of nanofabrication processes of various plasmonic metal nanostructures, the coming age of electrochromic RME plasmonic high-resolution color displays is appearing on the near horizon. [34][35][36] Recently, Ag nanoparticles, having tunable nano structures, along with their localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR), have been investigated for multicolor electrochromic films. [17][18]37] Compared to the nonmetallic-based electrochromic materials, whose optical indices are altered through ions intercalation or redox reactions, [38][39][40] various LSPR color bands are tuned by manipulating the size and shape of the Ag nanoparticles. [19,41] However, to realize stable and reversible Ag nanoparticles electrodeposition, these LSPR-based electrochromic displays are administered in nonaqueous electrolyte environments that require high electrodeposition voltage. [17][18][19] As such, this platform is far from being energy-efficient and reliable, especially when considering large-area displays. [42] Notably, for a wide scope of applications, it is highly desirable to have a dynamically reconfigurable plasmochromic device operating at a safe low voltage window (i.e., aqueous electrolyte compatible platform) [43][44] while also offering precise manipulation of Ag adatoms to prevent nucleation and growth on the displaying substrate.To circumvent these challenges, an underpotential metal electrodeposition process (UPMD) needs to be explored as a candidate to precisely manipulate the growth of Ag atoms at the interface between a substrate and the electrolyte. The UPMD process occurs as a result of the strong adatom/substrate adsorption between the electrodeposited metal and the solid substrate. [45] The reduction of a metal cation can be achieved Plasmonic colors are attractive building blocks for flat panel displays due to their broad color gamut and unprecedented subwavelength resolution. The exploration of reversible silver (Ag) electrodeposition for switchable plasmonic colors is considered as a promising strategy toward dynamically reconfigurable color displays. To date, the current reversible Ag electrodeposition-based electrochromic devices are energy-inefficient as the platforms are realized in nonaq...

Recent advances in multifunctional electrochromic devices

“…ECDs based on ion intercalation/deintercalation mechanisms have attracted numerous attention in both academic and industry, and various EC materials, including inorganic, organic, and metal‐complex compounds have been widely studied. To date, great progress has been achieved on ECDs based on ion intercalation/deintercalation and the mainly employed charge carriers have been shifted from traditional monovalent ions (e.g., H + , Li + , Na + , K + ) to multivalent ions (e.g., Zn 2+ , Al 3+ , Ca 2+ , Mg 2+ ) [1b,4,10h,23] . WO 3 is one of the most representative inorganic EC metal oxide that shows cathodic coloration during ion intercalation, and displays reversible blue and colorless states during the cation injection and extraction (Figure 2a).…”

Advances in electrochromic device technology through the exploitation of nanophotonic and nanoplasmonic effects

“…(d) Schematic of plasmonic Ag ECD based on underpotential deposition of Ag adatoms. (e) Corresponding images of the colors induced by reversible Ag deposition [ 75 ].…”

“…In particular, a recent study by Zhang et al. demonstrated a multicolor plasmonic ECD based on the reversible Ag deposition mechanism [ 75 ]. The size-tunable Ag nanoparticles can be grown onto a conducting ITO coated glass substrate at an operating voltage as low as −0.5 V and can be efficiently stripped at +0.5 V ( Figure 4(d) .…”

Nanoscale manipulating plasmonic silver adatoms for dynamic light modulation

“…The electrolyte for the electrodeposition process was prepared by dissolving 1mM AgNO 3 and 50mM LiClO 4 in distilled water. 18 The inclusion of LiClO 4 serves as a supporting electrolyte to enhance the ionic conductivity of the electrolyte.…”