title: An electrochromic ionic liquid: design, characterization, and performance in a solid-state platform.
abstract: This work describes the synthesis and characteristics of a novel electrochromic ionic liquid (IL) based on a phosphonium core tethered to a viologen moiety. When integrated into a solid-state electrochromic platform, the viologen modified IL behaved as both the electrolyte and the electrochromic material. Platform fabrication was achieved through in situ photo-polymerization and encapsulation of this novel IL within a hybrid sol-gel. Important parameters of the platform performance, including its coloration efficiency, switching kinetics, and optical properties were characterised using UV-vis spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry in tandem. The electrochromic platform exhibits a coloration efficiency of 10.72 cm(2) C(-1) and a varied optical output as a function of the incident current. Despite the rather viscous nature of the material, the platform exhibited approximately 2 orders of magnitude faster switching kinetics (221 s to reach 95 % absorbance) when compared to previously reported electrochromic ILs (18,000 s).
authors.affiliation: CLARITY: The Centre for Sensor Web Technologies, National Centre for Sensor Research, School of Chemical Sciences, Dublin City University, Dublin 9, Ireland.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kavanagh
authors.forename: Kevin J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Fraser
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Byrne
authors.forename: Dermot
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Diamond