The present disclosure relates to electrochromic elements (10) and devices (110) comprising an electrochromic material layer (114), an insulating layer (116), and a bulk heterojunction layer (118), having one or more optical properties that may be changed upon application of an electric potential. Upon provision of an electric potential above a threshold, electrons and holes may be injected into the electrochromic layer (114) and bulk heterojunction layer (118), and blocked by the insulating layer (116), resulting in an accumulation of the electrons and holes in their respective electrochromic material resulting in a change to the one or more optical properties of the electrochromic materials (114; 118). An opposite electric potential may be provided to reverse the change in the one or more optical properties.

An electrochromic aperture, which comprises a first transparent substrate (11), a first transparent conductive layer (12), an ion storage layer (13), an ion transfer layer (14), an electrochromic layer (15), a second transparent conductive layer (16), and a second transparent substrate (17). The ion transfer layer (14) is a solid electrolyte layer. Also provided is a method for manufacturing the electrochromic aperture, relating to an etching operation after coating on the ion storage layer (13) and the electrochromic layer (15) is finished. Also provided is a lens modules having the electrochromic aperture.

The invention relates to the manufacturing method of high performance electro-chromic devices containing transition metal oxide based compounds, wherein it comprises the steps of enlarging of the metal contact with Pt (Platinum) (1) sputtering method on one edge of the 80-150 nm thick Indium-Tin oxide alloy (ITO) (2), which was previously enlarged on the glass (3) by the sputter method, growing vertical nano-wall structures at 15-25 mTorr, 300-500° C. substrate temperature and at 3-45 minutes intervals on glass (3) with sputter method, by using transition metal chalcogen targets on previously enlarged ITO (2) with a thickness of 80-150 nm, oxidizing the grown structures in the oxidizing furnace for 10-60 minutes under oxygen gas in the temperature range 300-450° C., preparing the electro-chromic device by placing a counter glass/ITO (80-150 nm) in propylene carbonate (PC) to face 1 Mole/Liter Lithium perchlorate (LiClO4) ion-conducting electrolyte (6) with a 0.5-1 mm distance between them and closing it.

This disclosure provides compositions of electrochromic dyes, functionalized electrochromic dyes and dye macromers which may be incorporated into electrochromic devices with tailored optical properties. The disclosure provides electrochromic devices and electrochromic materials which do not use halogenated anions. This disclosure also provides EC compositions and devices for controlling color.

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. In various embodiments, a counter electrode is fabricated to include a base anodically coloring material and one or more additives.

Multi-layer electrochromic structures, and processes for assembling such structures, incorporating a cross-linked ion conducting polymer layer that maintains high adhesive and cohesive strength in combination with high ionic conductivity for an extended period of time, the ion conducting polymer layer characterized by electrochemical stability at voltages between about 1.3 V and about 4.4 V relative to lithium, lithium ion conductivity of at least about 10.sup.−5 s/cm, and lap shear strength of at least 100 kPa, as measured at 1.27 mm/min in accordance with ASTM International standard D1002 or D3163.

This invention relates to devices that can controllably vary the properties of graphene with respect to different wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation and particularly its optical properties. The electronically variable optical surfaces of the invention comprise graphene layers with intercalated metal (e.g. lithium) ions. The cell comprises an Li-NMC anode as ion source, an ionic liquid electrolyte, and an multilayer graphene cathode.

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.

The disclosure relates generally to a method of changing an optical state of an electrochromic device. The method may include: selecting a desired optical state of the electrochromic device; determining a driving power to change the optical state based on an initial state and the desired state of the electrochromic device. The driving power comprises a first magnitude and a second magnitude, and the first magnitude is larger than the second magnitude. The method may further include: applying the driving power with the first magnitude to the electrochromic device for a period of time t; and at time t, switching the driving power to the second magnitude.

The present invention relates to an electrochromic solution and a use thereof, wherein the said solution comprises: a solvent; a thickening polymer agent having a molecular weight of at least 50,000 g/mol, preferably 200,000 g/mol, more preferably of at least 250,000 g/mol; at least an additive having a molecular weight between 300 and 50,000 g/mol, preferably between 320 and 20,000 g/mol; a redox chemical mixture in solution in said solvent said mixture being constituted of at least one electrochromic reducing compound and at least one electrochromic oxidizing compound, and which colors in the presence of an applied voltage and which bleaches to a colorless condition in the absence of an applied voltage. The invention further relates to a device comprising said solution.