A novel nanocomposite of WO3 modified Al-doped ZnO nanowires with enhanced electrochromic performance

• Al-doped ZnO nanowires were grown on FTO glass by hydrothermal method.
• The temperature does not exceed 90 °C in any step of the experiment.
• We first employ AZO nanowires as the electrode for electrochromic reaction.
• A novel nanocomposite of WO3 modified AZO nanowires was formed.
• WO3 modified AZO nanowires shows enhanced electrochromic performance.

This paper reports the preparation and electrochromic properties of WO3 grown on Al-doped ZnO nanowires (AZO NWs) compared with ZnO nanowires (ZnO NWs). The AZO and ZnO NWs were grown on AZO seed layer (AZO SL) sputtered on fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO) substrates by a simple low temperature hydrothermal process. WO3 was then deposited directly on the surface of AZO NWs and ZnO NWs by pulsed laser deposition (PLD). The result revealed that a novel nanocomposite of WO3 modified AZO and ZnO NWs with high surface-to-volume ratio was formed. The employ of AZO nano-electrode made WO3 electrochromic film have lower driving voltage than WO3/ZnO. The more compact WO3/AZO nanostructure with larger active surface area exhibited faster switching time (tc∼4.5 s and tb∼1.3 s), higher color contrast (46.5%) and higher coloration efficiency (69.0 C−1 cm2) compared with WO3/ZnO.