Tungsten oxide nanowires grown on graphene oxide sheets as high-performance electrochromic material

•A novel inorganic-nano-carbon hybrid composite was prepared.•The hybrid composite has sandwich-like structure.•The hybrid composite exhibited high-quality electrohcromic performance.

In this work, we report the synthesis of a novel hybrid electrochromic composite through nucleation and growth of ultrathin tungsten oxide nanowires on graphene oxide sheets using a facile solvothermal route. The competition between the growth of tungsten oxide nanowires and the reduction of graphene oxide sheets leads to the formation of sandwich-structured tungsten oxide-reduced graphene oxide composite. Due to the strongly coupled effect between the ultrathin tungsten oxide nanowires and the reduced graphene oxide nanosheets, the novel electrochromic composite exhibited high-quality electrochromic performance with fast color-switching speed, good cyclic stability, and high coloration efficiency. The present tungsten oxide-reduced graphene oxide composite represents a new approach to prepare other inorganic-reduced graphene oxide hybrid materials for electrochemical applications.

Graphical abstractElectrochromic mechanism of tungsten oxide nanowires-reduced graphene oxide composite.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide