The cerium addition effect on the electrochemical properties of niobium pentoxide electrochromic thin films

Physical, electrochromic and electrochemical effect of CeO2 addition to Nb2O5 was investigated. It was detected an improvement in the transmittance variation effect when 0.1 mol % CeO2 was added to Nb2O5. For higher CeO2 mel % a deleterious effect was detect, although the transmittance variation is higher than the non doped Nb2O5 sample. The deleterious effect was associated with the segregation of CeO2 phase at the grain boundary region. Otherwise the 0.1 mol % CeO2 could lead to solid solution which causes charge defects in the structure improving the electrochromical effect.