Effects of Pre-reducing Sb-Doped SnO2 Electrodes in Viologen-Anchored TiO2 Nanostructure-Based Electrochromic Devices

In this paper, we investigate the effects of pre-reducing Sb-doped SnO2 (ATO) electrodes in viologen-anchored TiO2 (VTO) nanostructure-based electrochromic devices. We find that by pre-reducing an ATO electrode, the operating voltage of a VTO nanostructure-based electrochromic device can be lowered; consequently, such a device can be operated more stably with less hysteresis. Further, we find that a pre-reduction of the ATO electrode does not affect the coloration efficiency of such a device. The aforementioned effects of a pre-reduction are attributed to the fact that a pre-reduced ATO electrode is more compatible with a VTO nanostructure-based electrochromic device than a non-pre-reduced ATO electrode, because of the initial oxidized state of the other electrode of the device, that is, a VTO nanostructure-based electrode. The oxidation state of a pre-reduced ATO electrode plays a very important role in the operation of a VTO nanostructure-based electrochromic device because it strongly influences charge movement during electrochromic switching.