Fabrication and Electrochromic Performance of Silica/Tetraaniline/Carbon Nanotubes Composite Film

In this work, we report a new silica/tetraaniline/carbon nanotubes composite film prepared through an electrochemistry-assisted hydrolytic crosslinking reaction. The resultant samples were characterized through scanning electron microscope (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectrum (EIS). Compared to the silica/tetraaniline binary film, this silica/tetraaniline/carbon nanotubes ternary composite film displays enhanced electrochromic performance with large optical contrast values (Δ=67% at 700 nm), high coloration efficiency (85.6 cm 2 /C), and fast switching speed ( t c =1.5 s and t b =5.2 s). This improvement of the electrochromic performance could be attributed to its interpenetrating network architecture, resulting porous structure and good conductivity of the carbon nanotubes. Furthermore, the electrochromic electrode exhibits outstanding cycling stability, due to its robust crosslinking molecular structure and good adhesion to the conductive substrate.