Fast printing of thin, large area, ITO free electrochromics on flexible barrier foil

Processing of large area, indium tin oxide (ITO) free electrochromic (EC) devices has been carried out using roll-toroll (R2R) processing. By use of very fine high-conductive silver grids with a hexagonal structure, it is possible to achieve good transparency of the electrode covered substrates and when used in EC devices switching times are similar to corresponding ITO devices.

This is obtained without the uneven switching of larger areas, which is generally observed when using ITO because of its high-sheet resistance. The silver electrode structures for 18 ×18 cm2 devices can be processed at high speed (10 m/min) on PET by flexographic printing and the EC polymer ECP-Magenta as well as a minimal color changing polymer MCCP by slot-die coating, showing the potential for fast fabrication of large volumes of low-priced flexible EC devices by use of R2R processing techniques. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals,Inc.

J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 000: 000–000, 2012