Molybdenum oxide (MoO3) thin film based electrochromic cell characterisation in 0.1M LiClO4•PC electrolyte

Electrochromic thin films of molybdenum oxide (MoO3) were prepared on transparent conducting oxide substrates, i.e. fluorine doped tin oxide coated (FTO or SnO2: F) glass substrates by electron beam evaporation technique using pure MoO3 (99.99%) pellets at various substrate temperatures (i.e. T-sub=room temperature (30 degrees C), 100 and 200 degrees C) under the vacuum of 1 x 10(-5) mbar. The room temperature prepared films were further annealed T-anne at 200 and 300 degrees C for about one hour in the vacuum environment. The electrochemical nature of the films was studied by the cyclic voltammetry technique using a three electrode electrochemical cell in 0.1M LiClO4 center dot PC electrolyte. The performance of the films was also tested by making electrochromic cells. The films produced at higher substrate temperature show lesser modulation in the visible spectrum, compared with the films produced at lower temperatures. A maximum colouration efficiency of 66 cm(2) C-1 was observed in the infrared region for the films prepared at room temperature.