Air-Stable, Self-Bleaching Electrochromic Device Based on Viologen- and Ferrocene-Containing Triflimide Redox Ionic Liquids

We demonstrate an electrochromic device with self-bleaching ability that uses ethyl viologen- ([EV] 2+ ) and ferrocene-based redox ionic liquids ([FcNTf] − ) as the electroactive species. These electroactive compounds are insensitive to atmospheric O 2 and H 2 O in both their oxidized and reduced states once dissolved in a typical ionic liquid electrolyte ([BMIm][NTf 2 ]), allowing for the device to be assembled outside a glovebox without any encapsulation. This device could generate a deep blue color by the application of a 2.0 V potential between two fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) substrates to oxidize the ferrocenyl centers to [FcNTf] 0 while reducing viologen to [EV] +• . Self-bleaching occurs at OCP as [EV] +• and [FcNTf] 0 undergo homogeneous electron transfer in the electrolyte. The mass transport of ethyl viologen and ferrocenylsulfonyl(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide ([FcNTf] − ) anion was evaluated by double potential step chronoamperometry to study the impact of the diffusion coefficient on the self-bleaching mechanism. The electrochromic device demonstrated here shows a contrast Δ T (610 nm) around 40% at 2.0 V as colored cell voltage, a switching time in the order of few seconds for coloration and bleaching, coloration efficiency of 105.4 to 146.2 cm 2 C 1– at 610 nm, and very high stability (94.8% Δ T after 1000 cycles) despite the presence of O 2 and H 2 O in the electrolyte.