Molecular Engineering of High-Performance Electrochromic Nanolayers

Peter H.伦斯勒理工学院化学和化学生物学系的Dinolfo得到了化学系大分子、超分子和纳米化学项目的支持，开发了一种新型的电致变色材料。 电致变色材料在通电时改变颜色。 该项目中的材料由固体表面上的过渡金属（主要是钴）络合物薄膜涂层组成。 该项目揭示了基本的化学知识，以更好地了解颜色变化的方式和原因。所获得的知识对于改进智能窗户（提高建筑物的能源效率）、汽车后视镜的防眩光涂层、化学传感器、显示材料和光学存储设备至关重要。虽然有许多种类的电致变色材料可用，但该项目承诺开发在电信号关闭后保持其颜色处于给定化学状态的材料。 因此，这类新材料预计将具有以更少的电能消耗运行的优势。 在进行这项研究的过程中，研究生和本科生在合成，材料制备和表征和设备建设的培训。此外，太阳能化学营组织，并提供给高中学生在夏季伦斯勒高中研究计划。该项目解决了对电致变色材料的日益增长的需求，这些材料具有状态之间的高颜色对比度，着色效率，长期循环耐久性和快速切换速度。重点是开发使用氧化还原耦合自旋交叉（RCSCO）有机金属配合物的新型电致变色材料。 这种材料在氧化或还原时经历化学转变，对于给定的氧化还原对，阳极波和阴极波显著分裂。 通过逐层方法的点击化学被用于使用钴（Co）络合物作为构建块来生成纳米级薄膜电致变色材料。 所得到的电致变色材料进行了一系列的实验，以调查配体结合到他们的光谱，电化学和磁性的Co中心的影响。 该团队还通过多层组件检查了电化学电荷转移速率，并研究了它们的着色效率，切换时间和循环寿命。 结果告知分子结构的系统变化，以优化特定电致变色应用的材料。这项研究的成功可能会改变如何研究的过渡金属配位化合物具有氧化还原耦合自旋交叉化合物被用作构建块在电致变色设备。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得支持的评估使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。

Professor Peter H. Dinolfo of the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is supported by the Macromolecular, Supramolecular and Nanochemistry Program in the Division of Chemistry to develop a new type of electrochromic materials. Electrochromic materials change color when electricity is applied. The materials in this project are composed of thin film coatings of transition metal (mainly cobalt) complexes on solid surfaces. The project reveals fundamental chemical knowledge to better understand the how and why color changes occur. The knowledge obtained is critical to improving smart windows (improving building energy efficiency), antiglare coatings for automobile mirrors, chemical sensors, display materials, and optical memory devices. While many classes of electrochromic materials are available, the project promises to develop materials that maintain their color in a given chemical state after the electrical signal is switched off. As a result, this new class of materials is expected to have the advantage of operating with less electrical energy consumption. During the course of conducting this research, graduate and undergraduate students are trained in synthesis, material preparation and characterization and device construction. In addition, solar chemistry camps are organized and made available for high school students under the Summer at Rensselaer High School Research program. The project addresses the increasing need for electrochromic materials with high color contrast between states, coloration efficiency, long-term cycling durability and fast switching speeds. The focus is on the development of a new class of electrochromic materials using redox coupled spin crossover (RCSCO) organometallic complexes. Such materials undergo chemical transformations upon oxidation or reduction with significant splitting of the anodic and cathodic waves for a given redox couple. Click chemistry via a layer by layer method is used to generate nanoscale thin film electrochromic materials using cobalt (Co) complexes as building blocks. The resulting electrochromic materials are subjected to a series of experiments to investigate the effects of ligand binding to the Co centers on their spectroscopic, electrochemical, and magnetic properties. The team also examines the electrochemical charge transfer rates through their multilayer assemblies and investigates their coloration efficiency, switching times, and cycle lifetimes. The results inform the systematic variation of the molecular structure to optimize the material for specific electrochromic applications. Success of this research may transform how studies of transition metal coordination compounds featuring redox-coupled spin-crossover compounds are used as building blocks in electrochromic devices.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.