Screen printing and in situ electropolymerization as a simple manufacturing method to produce long cycling lifetime electrochromic indicators

Leite, Fábio A.S.; Howard, Elin L.; Pinheiro, Carlos; Parola, A. Jorge; Maggini, Laura; Laia, Cesar

http://hdl.handle.net/10362/187130

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Successful commercialization of electrochromic technologies into smart labels necessitates that they can be produced in high-volumes and at a low cost. Herein we present a simple method to produce poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) electrochromic indicators via screen printing and charge controlled in situ electropolymerization. This method reduces the number of printed layers, thus lowering the overall time and cost of production. The optical contrast and visual homogeneity of the indicators can be tuned by modifying the electropolymerization voltage and limiting the charge. Due to the opaque nature of the printed electrolyte, the switching speed can be increased, and the operating voltage can be lowered by electropolymerizing an electrochromic film onto the counter electrode to act as a charge storage material. The best performing indicators exhibit a contrast of 31.1%R (600 nm), with a 1 s switching speed. The CIELAB color co-ordinates of the indicators were measured over 100 k cycles. During this period, the indicators showed an overall increase in contrast. The long cycling lifetime of the indicators makes them promising candidates for applications where frequent switching is required.

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Funding Information: The authors gratefully acknowledge HORIZON-2020-MSCA ITN (project CHARISMA, no. 814299), and HORIZON-2020-IA (project DecoChrom, no. 760973) funding schemes for the generous financial support. LM and FASL thank the University of Vienna and Professor Davide Bonifazi for access to instrumental equipment, facilities and laboratory space. This work also received financial support from PT national funds (FCT/MCTES, Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia and Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior) through the project UIDB/50006/2020 (LAQV-REQUIMTE). Publisher Copyright: © 2025 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd.

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3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene Electrochromic display In situ electropolymerization Printed electrolyte Printed electronics Smart label Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials Electrical and Electronic Engineering