Promotion of electrochromism in spray-deposited molybdenum oxide-doped iridium oxide thin films

Electrochromic molybdenum oxide-doped iridium oxide thin films were prepared by using a pneumatic spray pyrolysis technique onto fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) coated conducting glass substrates. An aqueous solution of 0.01 M ammonium molybdate was mixed with 0.01 M iridium trichloride in different volume proportions and the resultant solution was used as a precursor for spraying. An aqueous electrolyte (0.5 N H₂SO₄) was used to study electrochromic properties of thin films using cyclic voltammetry (CV), chronoamperometry (CA) and spectrophotometry. During the potential scan the iridium oxide electrode switches between coloured and bleached state due to Ir⁺⁴-Ir⁺³ intervalency charge transfers. The optical density difference (ΔOD)_{λ=630 nm} and colouration efficiency was maximum for 2% molybdenum oxide-doped sample. Moreover, loss in charge density during extended cycling is less than undoped and other doped (>2%) samples.