High-Performance Suspended Particle Devices Based on Copper-Reduced Graphene Oxide Core-Shell Nanowire Electrodes

Smart windows are one of the key components of so-called green buildings. These windows are based on an actively switchable electro-optic material that is sandwiched between two transparent electrodes. Although great progress has been made in identifying the optimal materials for such active windows, there is still a great need to improve their key elements, especially the performance of the transparent electrodes. Here, a new suspended particle device (SPD), holding a great potential for smart window applications, which is built upon copper-reduced graphene oxide (Cu-rGO) core-shell nanowire (NW) films as a transparent conductive electrode is reported. With the wrapping of rGO, the Cu NW electrodes demonstrate both high optical transparency and electrical conductivity, as well as significantly improved stability under various testing conditions. The novel sandwich-structured SPDs, based on these electrodes, show a large change in their optical transmittance (42%) between on and off states, impressively fast switching time and superior stability. These high performances are comparable to those of the SPDs based on indium tin oxide electrodes. These promising results pave the way for the electrodes to be an integral part of a variety of optoelectronic devices, including energy-friendly and flexible electronics.