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Optical properties and electrochromic response of nanostructured molybdenum trioxide films

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Abstract

We report on the electrochromic response of as-deposited and annealed nanostructured molybdenum trioxide films prepared with the glancing angle deposition (GLAD) technique. Morphology of the as-deposited films, obtained with an atomic force microscope (AFM), showed a typical grain size of 10 to 50 nm diameter. After annealing, the AFM images clearly showed the dominant presence of a layered structure, characteristic of the orthorhombic (a) phase of molybdenum trioxide, with typical grain dimensions of a few micrometers. The annealed samples showed pronounced coloration in the visible and near-infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, while the as-deposited samples showed significant coloration only in the visible region.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Jeff Dahn and Robbie Sanderson of Dalhousie University for the measurement of x-ray diffraction spectra. We acknowledge the invaluable contribution of Pierre St-Onge in the design, fabrication, and commissioning of our GLAD sample manipulator. We also thank Georges Bader for valuable discussions. The financial contributions of Atlantic Innovation Fund (AIF-FIA) and that of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada are also gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Thin Films and Photonics Research Group (GCMP), Department of Physics and Astronomy, Universite de Moncton, Moncton, N.B., Canada, E1A 3E9

    G. Beydaghyan, M. Boudreau & P. V. Ashrit

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  1. G. Beydaghyan
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  2. M. Boudreau
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  3. P. V. Ashrit
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Correspondence to G. Beydaghyan.

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Beydaghyan, G., Boudreau, M. & Ashrit, P.V. Optical properties and electrochromic response of nanostructured molybdenum trioxide films. Journal of Materials Research 26, 55–61 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2010.43

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