Wide-Spectrum Modulated Electrochromic Smart Windows Based on MnO2/PB Films

Dongyun Ma; Alice Lee-Sie Eh; Sheng Cao; Pooi See Lee; Jinmin Wang

doi:10.1021/acsami.1c20011

Wide-Spectrum Modulated Electrochromic Smart Windows Based on MnO₂/PB Films

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2022 Jan 12;14(1):1443-1451. doi: 10.1021/acsami.1c20011. Epub 2021 Dec 27.

Authors

Dongyun Ma¹, Alice Lee-Sie Eh^{2

3}, Sheng Cao⁴, Pooi See Lee^{2

3}, Jinmin Wang¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Materials and Chemistry, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, 334 Jungong Road, Shanghai200093, P. R. China.
² School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore639798, Singapore.
³ Singapore-HUJ Alliance for Research and Enterprise (SHARE), Nanomaterials for Energy and Energy Water Nexus (NEW), Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE), Singapore138602, Singapore.
⁴ MOE Key Laboratory of New Processing Technology for Non-ferrous Metals and Materials, Guangxi Key Laboratory of Processing for Non-ferrous Metals and Featured Materials, Guangxi University, Nanning, Guangxi530004, China.

PMID: 34957823
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.1c20011

Abstract

Inorganic materials have been extensively studied for visible electrochromism in the past few decades. However, the single inorganic electrochromic (EC) material commonly exhibits a single color change, leading to a narrow spectrum of modulation, which offsets or limits the maximally energy-saving ability. Here, we present a wide-spectrum modulated EC device designed by combining the complementary EC nanocomposite of manganese dioxide (MnO₂) and Prussian blue (PB) for enhanced energy savings. Porous MnO₂ nanostructures serve as host frameworks for the templated growth of PB, resulting in MnO₂/PB nanocomposites. The complementary optical modulation ranges of MnO₂ and PB enable a widen-spectrum modulation across the solar region with the development of the MnO₂/PB nanocomposite. The colored MnO₂/PB device exhibited an optical modulation of 32.1% in the wide solar spectrum range of 320-1100 nm and blocked 72.0% of the solar irradiance. Furthermore, fast switching responses (2.7 s for coloration and 2.1 s for bleaching) and a high coloration efficiency (83.1 cm²·C^-1) of the MnO₂/PB EC device are also achieved. The high EC performance of the MnO₂/PB nanocomposite device provides a new strategy for the design of high-performance energy-saving EC smart windows.

Keywords: Prussian blue; electrochromic; manganese dioxide; nanocomposite; smart windows.