Moon Hong Chul, Kim Chang-Hyun, Lodge Timothy P, Frisbie C Daniel
Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Seoul , Seoul 02504, Republic of Korea.
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2016 Mar 9;8(9):6252-60. doi: 10.1021/acsami.6b01307. Epub 2016 Mar 1.
Ion gels composed of a copolymer and a room temperature ionic liquid are versatile solid-state electrolytes with excellent features including high ionic conductivity, nonvolatility, easily tunable mechanical properties, good flexibility and solution processability. Ion gels can be functionalized by incorporating redox-active species such as electrochemiluminescent (ECL) luminophores or electrochromic (EC) dyes. Here, we enhance the functionality of EC gels for realizing multicolored EC devices (ECDs), either by controlling the chemical equilibrium between a monomer and dimer of a colored EC species, or by modifying the molecular structures of the EC species. All devices in this work are conveniently fabricated by a "cut-and-stick" strategy, and require very low power for maintaining the colored state [i.e., 90 μW/cm(2) (113 μA/cm(2) at -0.8 V) for blue, 4 μW/cm(2) (10 μA/cm(2) at -0.4 V) for green, and 32 μW/cm(2) (79 μA/cm(2) at -0.4 V) for red ECD]. We also successfully demonstrate a patterned, multicolored, flexible ECD on plastic. Overall, these results suggest that gel-based ECDs have significant potential as low power displays in printed electronics powered by thin-film batteries.
由共聚物和室温离子液体组成的离子凝胶是多功能固态电解质，具有诸多优异特性，包括高离子导电性、不挥发性、易于调节的机械性能、良好的柔韧性和溶液可加工性。离子凝胶可通过引入氧化还原活性物质（如电化学发光（ECL）发光体或电致变色（EC）染料）进行功能化。在此，我们通过控制有色电致变色物质单体与二聚体之间的化学平衡，或通过修饰电致变色物质的分子结构，来增强电致变色凝胶的功能，以实现多色电致变色器件（ECD）。本工作中的所有器件均通过“切割粘贴”策略方便地制备而成，且维持着色状态所需功率极低[即蓝色ECD为90 μW/cm²（-0.8 V时为113 μA/cm²），绿色ECD为4 μW/cm²（-0.4 V时为10 μA/cm²），红色ECD为32 μW/cm²（-0.4 V时为79 μA/cm²）]。我们还成功地在塑料上展示了一种图案化、多色、柔性的ECD。总体而言，这些结果表明，基于凝胶的ECD作为由薄膜电池供电的印刷电子产品中的低功耗显示器具有巨大潜力。
