Poh Wei Church, Eh Alice Lee-Sie, Wu Wenting, Guo Xiaoyu, Lee Pooi See
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 639798, Singapore.
Singapore-HUJ Alliance for Research and Enterprise (SHARE), Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE), 1 Create Way, Singapore, 138602, Singapore.
Adv Mater. 2022 Dec;34(51):e2206952. doi: 10.1002/adma.202206952. Epub 2022 Nov 14.
Formation of ionogels through in situ polymerization can effectively improve electrolyte processability; however, the curing process has been slow and oxygen-sensitive. Considering the low oxygen solubility of poly(ionic liquid)s (PILs), in situ polymerized ionogels are designed to realize excellent electrolytes. Herein, two in situ polymerized ionogels (PIL A & PIL B) are formulated, and they can be rapidly photocured within a minute. The ionogels are highly transparent, stretchable, and exhibit excellent physicochemical stability, including thermal, electrochemical, and air stability, allowing them to perform in various conditions. Benefitting from these properties, two high-performance electrochromic devices (ECDs) are assembled, with iron-centered coordination polymer (FeCP) and tungsten oxide (P-WO ) electrochromic materials, achieving high color contrast (45.2% and 56.4%), fast response time (1.5/1.9 and 1.7/6.4 s), and excellent cycling endurance (>90% retention over 3000 cycles). Attributed to the thermal robustness of the ionogels, the ECDs can also be operated over a wide temperature range (-20 to 100 °C). With the use of deformable substrates (e.g., ultrathin ITO glass), curved electrochromic eye protector and flexible electrochromic displays are realized, highlighting their potential use in futuristic wearables.
通过原位聚合形成离子凝胶可以有效提高电解质的加工性能；然而，固化过程一直缓慢且对氧气敏感。考虑到聚离子液体（PILs）的低氧溶解度，设计原位聚合离子凝胶以实现优异的电解质。在此，制备了两种原位聚合离子凝胶（PIL A和PIL B），它们可以在一分钟内快速光固化。这些离子凝胶具有高度透明、可拉伸的特性，并表现出优异的物理化学稳定性，包括热稳定性、电化学稳定性和空气稳定性，使其能够在各种条件下发挥作用。受益于这些特性，组装了两个高性能电致变色器件（ECD），分别采用以铁为中心的配位聚合物（FeCP）和氧化钨（P-WO）电致变色材料，实现了高颜色对比度（45.2%和56.4%）、快速响应时间（1.5/1.9和1.7/6.4秒）以及优异的循环耐久性（在3000次循环中保留率>90%）。由于离子凝胶的热稳定性，ECD还可以在很宽的温度范围内（-20至100°C）运行。通过使用可变形基板（如超薄ITO玻璃），实现了弯曲的电致变色护目镜和柔性电致变色显示器，突出了它们在未来可穿戴设备中的潜在用途。
