An inorganic solid-state electrochromic module containing an inorganic transparent conductive film, including a transparent substrate and a first transparent conductive layer, a first transparent metal layer, a first transparent protective layer, an inorganic electrochromic layer, an inorganic ion conductive layer, an inorganic ion storage layer, a second transparent metal layer, a second transparent protective layer, a second transparent conductive layer, a encapsulating film and a transparent front plate successively formed on the transparent substrate.

The present invention concerns an electrochromic device, a method for depositing an organic electrochromic material and a method for producing an electrochromic device. The device is preferably an electrochromic display, preferably a full-color electrochromic display. The device preferably comprises an electrodeposited organic electrochromic material and/or a polymeric organic electrochromic material.

Disclosed is an electrochromic device including an electrolyte layer having first and second surfaces directed in opposite directions, an electrochromic layer provided on the first surface of the electrolyte layer, a counter electrode layer provided on the second surface of the electrolyte layer, a first transparent electrode layer provided on a surface opposite to the electrolyte layer based on the electrochromic layer, and a second transparent electrode layer provided on a surface opposite to the electrolyte layer based on the counter electrode layer, in which the first and second transparent electrode layers are each provided as a composite layer in which an oxide-based electrode layer made of a material selected from a group consisting of AZO, FTO, and ITO and a metal-based electrode layer made of a material selected from a group consisting of nanowires (AgNWs), PEDOT:PSS, graphene, and a metal mesh are laminated.

The present disclosure relates to a method for manufacturing a flexible electrochromic device, and more particularly, to a method for manufacturing a flexible electrochromic device that bonds an electrochromic part and a counter electrode part while solidifying a wet-coated electrolyte with ultraviolet rays, thereby being capable of eliminating the possibility of bubble generation in the electrolyte and improving transmittance characteristics and durability.

An imaging system for a portable electronic device includes a variable aperture between a lens group and an image sensor. The variable aperture is defined by an electrochromic stack that defines at least two switching regions and a central non-switching region. The switching regions can be defined by concentric ring electrodes disposed below an electrochromic stack including a counter electrode, an ion conductor layer, and an electrochromic material. Above the electrochromic stack is disposed a shared electrode. The shared electrode and the concentric ring electrodes can be formed from indium tin oxide. By applying at least a threshold voltage to one or more of the concentric ring electrodes, an electric field can be generated by each driven electrode and a respective portion of the shared electrode, inducing a transition from a bleached state to a colored state in a respective portion of the electrochromic stack.

The color of an electrochromic stack in a tinted state may be modified to achieve a desired color target by utilizing various techniques alone or in combination. A first approach generally involves changing a coloration efficiency of a WO.sub.x electrochromic (EC) layer by lowering a sputter temperature to achieve a WO.sub.x microstructural change in the EC layer. A second approach generally involves utilizing a dopant (e.g., Mo, Nb, or V) to improve the neutrality of the tinted state of WO.sub.x (coloration efficiency changes). A third approach generally involves tailoring a thickness of the WO.sub.x layer to tune the color of the tinted stack.

An electrochromic device according to an embodiment includes a first transparent conductive layer, an ion storage layer, an electrolyte layer, an electrochromic layer, and a second transparent conductive layer. The electrolyte layer includes a tantalum atom. The electrochromic layer includes a tungsten atom. The ion storage layer includes an iridium atom and a tantalum atom. The ion storage layer is hydrogenated in bleached state and the electrochromic device has a transmittance of 64.1% or more in bleached state. A difference between the transmittance of the electrochromic device in bleached state and the transmittance of the electrochromic device in colored state is 8.4% or more.

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, which are in direct contact with one another. 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. In addition to the improved electrochromic devices and methods for fabrication, integrated deposition systems for forming such improved devices are also disclosed.

An imaging system for a portable electronic device includes a variable aperture between a lens group and an image sensor. The variable aperture is defined by an electrochromic stack that defines a switching region and a central non-switching region. The electrochromic stack is defined by a layer of electrochromic material in which an electrochromic crystallite dispersion (e.g., nickel oxide) is suspended in a field of a lithiated ion conductor layer (e.g., lithiated tungsten nickel oxide).

Electrochromic devices and methods may employ the addition of a defect-mitigating insulating layer which prevents electronically conducting layers and/or electrochromically active layers from contacting layers of the opposite polarity and creating a short circuit in regions where defects form. In some embodiments, an encapsulating layer is provided to encapsulate particles and prevent them from ejecting from the device stack and risking a short circuit when subsequent layers are deposited. The insulating layer may have an electronic resistivity of between about 1 and 10.sup.8 Ohm-cm. In some embodiments, the insulating layer contains one or more of the following metal oxides: aluminum oxide, zinc oxide, tin oxide, silicon aluminum oxide, cerium oxide, tungsten oxide, nickel tungsten oxide, and oxidized indium tin oxide. Carbides, nitrides, oxynitrides, and oxycarbides may also be used.