Improved electrochromic device performance from silver grid on flexible transparent conducting electrode prepared by electrohydrodynamic jet printing

Abstract

Flexible transparent conducting electrodes (TCEs) are promising for use in electrochromic devices (ECDs), owing to their flexibility to operate in nonplanar configuration. The successful introduction of indium tin oxide (ITO)-coated glass into rigid and planar display devices made ITO on a transparent polymer film an attractive option for flexible devices. However, the flexible characteristic of the ITO film is compromised by its higher surface resistance compared to that of ITO glass. Here, we report printing silver grid on ITO film using an electrohydrodynamic (EHD) jet method, varying the grid pitch. This mask-free method to introduce silver grids onto ITO was used for ECD fabrication. The results showed improvements in colour quality and response time that are attributed to the enhanced conductivity of the silver grid ITO film under low-voltage (1.0 V) operation. Our approach can be used to improve soft ECDs by improving the performance of flexible TCEs.