The dependence of structural, electrical and optical properties on the composition of photochromic yttrium oxyhydride thin films

Synthesis and in-situ characterization of photochromic yttrium oxyhydride grown by reactive e−-beam evaporation

“…The lattice parameter is a=5.37 Å. In recent studies [5], the lattice parameter was found to be between 5.28 and 5.36 Å. The large lattice parameter in our case can be attributed to the high oxygen concentration of the investigated sample.…”

“…Yttrium oxyhydride (YHxOy) thin films have recently attracted the attention of the scientific community as they can exhibit reversible photochromism at ambient conditions [3]. By changing deposition parameters and thus chemical composition, the optical band gap [4] and electrical resistivity [5] of the film can be tuned and it was shown that the photochromic response strongly depends on the oxygen/hydrogen content [6]. More recently, a similar behavior was also observed for rare-earth metal oxyhydrides (ScHO, NdHO, GdHO, DyHO and ErHO) [7][8][9].…”

Influence of Cation (RE = Sc, Y, Gd) and O/H Anion Ratio on the Photochromic Properties of REOxH3–2x Thin Films

“…RBS/ERD data additionally verify that a higher deposition pressure results in a higher O/H ratio, in qualitative agreement with the progressive decrease of the refractive index, as implied by the decreasing amplitude of the thin-film interference oscillations ( Figures S2 and 1 b, top panel), and with previous studies on both Y and Gd oxyhydride thin films. 8 , 11 , 12 …”

Effect of temperature and illumination conditions on the photochromic performance of yttrium oxyhydride thin films

“…This switchable optical property is interesting for a wide range of technological applications, such as energy-saving smart windows, 2 displays, 3 optical sensors, 4 spectacle lenses, 5 and optical memories for data storage. 6 Consequently, there has been a great effort in recent times to study the structural, 7 compositional, [8][9][10][11] surface, 12 electrical, 13 and optical [14][15][16] properties of YHO materials.…”

“…For the implementation of photochromic YHO materials in practical applications, it is essential to gain more insights on the kinetics of the photodarkening and bleaching processes. Recently, it has been shown that thermal bleaching characteristics can be modified by doping YHO with Zr during thin film preparation, 17 changing the oxygen concentration in a YHO compound, 13 or increasing the heating temperature to 60À100 C. 18 In the present study, we focus on the kinetics of coloration and photochromic contrast in YHO. We have prepared yellow, transparent, photochromic YHO thin films on glass substrates by using reactive magnetron sputtering.…”