According to one aspect of the present disclosure, an electrochromic element comprises: a first electrode; a second electrode; a peripheral seal disposed between the first electrode and the second electrode; and an electrochromic layer disposed in a space defined by the first electrode, the second electrode, and the peripheral seal, wherein the electrochromic layer includes an anodic electrochromic compound and a cathodic electrochromic compound, wherein the peripheral seal is an anode preferential peripheral seal that takes preference of oxidation reaction of anodic electrochromic compound near the peripheral seal, and wherein the anodic electrochromic compound in the electrochromic layer has a concentration greater than a concentration of the cathodic electrochromic compound.

An easily operable dimming device includes a dimming element operable to control the transmittance thereof for light, and a first notification device operable to make a notification of a piece of information on a change in transmittance of the dimming section.

Conventional electrochromic devices frequently suffer from poor reliability and poor performance. Improvements are made using entirely solid and inorganic materials. Electrochromic devices are fabricated by forming an ion conducting electronically-insulating interfacial region that serves as an IC layer. In some methods, the interfacial region is formed after formation of an electrochromic and a counter electrode layer. The interfacial region contains an ion conducting electronically-insulating material along with components of the electrochromic and/or the counter electrode layer. Materials and microstructure of the electrochromic devices provide improvements in performance and reliability over conventional devices.

An electro-optic cell for an electrochromic device includes an electrochromic medium including an electrochromic compound M having at least one reduced state and at least one oxidized state. The electrochromic compound M can act as both the anodic material and the cathodic material in the electro-optic cell. The electrochromic medium can be capable of reversibly attenuating transmittance of light having a wavelength within a predetermined range.

An energy storage device includes a cathodic material in an activated state; and an anodic material in an activated state; wherein: the cathodic material is covalently attached to, or confined within, a first polymer matrix, the first polymer matrix is configured to prevent or minimize substantial diffusion of the cathodic material in the activated state; and the anodic material is a phenazine, a phenothiazine, a triphenodithiazine, a carbazole, a indolocarbazole, a biscarbazole, or a ferrocene covalently attached to, or confined within, a second polymer matrix, the second polymer matrix is configured to prevent or minimize substantial diffusion of the anodic material in the activated state.

An electrochromic device including a selective membrane separating two liquid media including at least one electrochromic compound and at least one compound able to be oxidized or reduced and showing low energy consumption.

A system and method for color correction in an electrochromic device includes applying a stepped voltage profile to the electrochromic device in a high-transmission state to achieve a desired low-transmission state. Each step of the stepped voltage profile is at a step difference of about 0.01 volts to about 0.5 volts from an adjacent step with each successive step being at a varying voltage level and each of the steps is held for a time period from about 0.1 seconds to about 10 seconds. At the desired low-transmission state, the system and method include applying a reverse bias voltage from about 0.01 volts to about 0.5 volts for about 0.01 seconds to about 10 seconds to color correct the low-transmission state.

A transparent photovoltaic (TPV) integrated directly into the structure of an electrochromic (EC) device is beneficial in that it can eliminate at least one substrate and provide more uniform coloring. Integration of a transparent photovoltaic with an electrochromic device may also reduce or eliminate the need for an electrical bus on a substrate. In some embodiments, positioning the TPV internally with the EC cell may eliminate the need for additional substrate layers or a conductive layer on one side of the TPV cell. Integrating a PV cell into the EC device can additionally reduce the need for external wiring and an external power supply. Alternatively, the TPV can assist in charging a battery where the battery can be used to power the EC device when there is no sunlight available.

An EC element whose coloring unevenness due to concentration unevenness is reduced by bringing the ratio of red and green wavelength ranges of a colored form of an anodic EC compound close to the ratio of red and green wavelength ranges of a colored form of a cathodic EC compound.

An electrochromic device is structured to selectively switch separate regions to separate transmission levels, based at least in part upon different respective sheet resistances of separate conductive layer regions. Sheet resistance of a conductive layer region can be associated with a transmission level to which a corresponding EC stack region can be switched, and a conductive layer with separate regions having separate sheet resistances causes corresponding EC stack regions to switch to different transmission levels. Sheet resistance in a conductive layer region can be adjusted via various processes, including introducing various chemical species into the conductive layer region to adjust a chemical species distribution in the region, where the chemical species distribution is associated with the sheet resistance of the region, heating conductive layer regions to induce oxidation of the region, adjusting the thickness of a conductive layer region, etc.