Electrochromic (EC) materials are a class of “smart” materials that change their optical properties in response to an applied potential. This optical change can be the development, loss, or variation in the color of the material. EC materials have recently become a research focus because of their high commercial applicability in “smart” windows, antiglare mirrors, and low-power displays. Most current EC materials are based on thick layers of EC molecules or EC molecules/ conductive polymer blends on the electrodes. The device properties depends strongly on the overall composition and distribution of the EC species in the polymer structure.

The Easton Lab, in collaboration with the Zenkina Lab, have developed an EC systems that contain as little as a monolayer of the EC molecules deposited onto a surface-enhanced conductive support.  The process involves the covalent attachment of various terpyridine-based ligand to the surface of a nanostructured conductive indium − tin oxide (ITO) screen-printed support by a simple submerging of the support into an aqueous solution of L. Subsequent reaction of with metal ions (e.g. Fe, Ru) leads to the formation the monolayer of the redox-active metal complex covalently bound to the ITO support. In addition, isolated and well-defined terpyridine- based metal complexes (Fe, Os,Co) were simply deposited on ITO screen-printed surface via conventional chlorobenzylsiloxane-based template.

Our research interests in this area are focused on understanding the factors that film color and electron transfer rates in these materials. Furthermore, we employ and refine our electrochemical diagnostic measurements in order to enhance switching speeds and durability.