An Electrochromic Hydrogen-Bonded Organic Framework Film

Hydrogen-bonded organic frameworks (HOFs) possess various merits, such as high porosity, tunable structure, facile modification, and ready regeneration. These properties have yet to be explored in the context of new functional HOF materials. The facile and inexpensive electrophoretic deposition (EPD) method applied in this study generated a transparent HOF film at room temperature in just 2 min and is applicable to other HOFs. The resulting film exhibited reversible electrochromism with the advantage of long cycle life (>500 cycles). More strikingly, this all-organic film could be readily regenerated (through rinsing with DMF and redeposition) and showed tunable electrochromic behavior (through low-cost postsynthetic modification) with the ability to undergo successive color changes, which is difficult to achieve with conventional electrochromic materials. An electrochromic device was manufactured to further demonstrate the application potential of the film.