Electrochromic Materials and Devices

Electrochromic materials can change their properties under the influence of an electrical voltage or current. Different classes of materials show this behavior such as transition metal oxides, conjugated polymers, metal-coordinated complexes and organic molecules. As the color change is persistent, the electric field needs only to be applied to initiate the switching, allowing for applications such as low-energy consumption displays, light-adapting mirrors in the automobile industry and smart windows for which the amount of transmitted light and heat can be controlled.

The first part of this book describes the different classes and processing techniques of electrochromic materials. The second part highlights nanostructured electrochromic materials and device fabrication, and the third part focuses on the applications such as smart windows, adaptive camouflage, biomimicry, wearable displays and fashion. The last part rounds off the book by device case studies and environmental impact issues.

Paul M. S. Monk received his PhD in the electrochemistry of novel electrochromic viologen species at Exeter University in 1989. A postdoctoral research fellow position (1989-91) at the University of Aberdeen, in Scotland, was followed by lecturing positions in Physical Chemistry at Manchester Polytechnic (1991-2) then Manchester Metropolitan University (1992-2007). He is currently employed as a Vicar in an inner-city parish in Oldham, Greater Manchester, UK.
Roger J. Mortimer was Professor in Physical Chemistry at Loughborough University between 2006 and his untimely death in 2015. He graduated from Imperial College London with a PhD in heterogeneous catalysis at sold-liquid interfaces. After a postdoctoral research fellowship (1980-81) and visiting associate in chemistry (1988) at the California Institute of Technology, he became demonstrator and a Research Assistant at Exeter University. Lecturing positions in Physical Chemistry ensued at Anglia Ruskin University (1984-87) and Analytical Chemistry at Sheffield Hallam University (1987-89), followed by his appointment as a Lecturer in Physical Chemistry at Loughborough University in 1989.
David R. Rosseinsky is an Emeritus Professor and Honorary Research Fellow in Physics at Exeter University, having been Reader in Physical Chemistry there from 1979-1998. After Rhodes University he pursued studies leading to PhD then DSc on charge transfer interactions at Manchester University. Following a sojourn at the University of Pennsylvania, from 1959 he became a lecturer at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg and in 1961, lecturer at Exeter University. With his ex research-student H Kellawi (by then Prof at Damascus University, on sabbatical), they studied Prussian blue and other electrochromic systems, extended in an invited appointment to SIMTech, Singapore, 2000-2002.