title: High-contrast and fast electrochromic switching enabled by plasmonics.
abstract: With vibrant colours and simple, room-temperature processing methods, electrochromic polymers have attracted attention as active materials for flexible, low-power-consuming devices. However, slow switching speeds in devices realized to date, as well as the complexity of having to combine several distinct polymers to achieve a full-colour gamut, have limited electrochromic materials to niche applications. Here we achieve fast, high-contrast electrochromic switching by significantly enhancing the interaction of light--propagating as deep-subwavelength-confined surface plasmon polaritons through arrays of metallic nanoslits, with an electrochromic polymer--present as an ultra-thin coating on the slit sidewalls. The switchable configuration retains the short temporal charge-diffusion characteristics of thin electrochromic films, while maintaining the high optical contrast associated with thicker electrochromic coatings. We further demonstrate that by controlling the pitch of the nanoslit arrays, it is possible to achieve a full-colour response with high contrast and fast switching speeds, while relying on just one electrochromic polymer.
authors.affiliation: National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing University, 22 Hankou Road, Nanjing 210093, China.|Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899, USA.|Maryland Nanocenter, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA.
authors.forename: Ting
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899, USA.|Maryland Nanocenter, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA.
authors.forename: Erich C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Walter
authors.affiliation: Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899, USA.|Maryland Nanocenter, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA.
authors.forename: Amit
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Agrawal
authors.affiliation: Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899, USA.
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bohn
authors.affiliation: Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899, USA.|Maryland Nanocenter, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA.
authors.forename: Jeyavel
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Velmurugan
authors.affiliation: Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899, USA.|Maryland Nanocenter, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA.
authors.forename: Wenqi
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899, USA.
authors.forename: Henri J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Lezec
authors.affiliation: Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899, USA.|Sandia National Laboratories, Livermore, California 94551, USA.
authors.forename: A Alec
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Talin
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