Scalable Synthesis of Improved Nanocrystalline, Mesoporous Tungsten Oxide Films with Exceptional Electrochromic Performance

Templated sol gel chemistry provides a versatile approach to introduce order and porosity into nanostructured materials. However conventional evaporation induced self assembly techniques are not easily scaled to produce films with sufficient thickness over large areas at the throughput required by electrochromic windows. Here we demonstrate that the principles of sol gel chemistry may be deployed using ultrasonic spray deposition (USD) for scalable synthesis of nanocrystalline WO₃ films with unrivaled electrochromic performance. Systematic manipulation of sol chemistry enabled the production of mesoporous films with high specific surface area (>100 m²/g), mean pore sizes of ~5 nm, and narrow pore size distributions. Film thickness is found to be proportional to the sol concentration and number of spray passes, and various combinations are shown to produce films capable of modulating >98% of incident solar radiation in the visible spectrum (450-900 nm). Elimination of haze enables full transmission in the bleached state, while the broadband coloration is attributed to the exceptionally high charge density (>120 mC/cm²). The materials have good switching speeds which improve with specific surface area, and the long term durability is promising.