High-Performance Black Copolymers Enabling Full Spectrum Control in Electrochromic Devices.

Black-to-transparent electrochromism is hailed as the holy grail of organic optoelectronics. Despite its potential, designing black electrochromic materials that fully absorb visible light remains a significant challenge. Electroactive materials that simultaneously possess excellent cyclic stability, fast switching times, and high coloration efficiency are rare. In this study, we successfully designed copolymers that fully absorb the entire visible spectrum by judiciously selecting four types of monomers. We incorporated two types of polar side chains to synergistically enhance the ionic conductivity of the copolymers, thus improving the performance of electrochromic devices. Among these electrochromic devices, the P2-a device exhibits cycling stability exceeding 10⁵ cycles, and the P2-c device demonstrates a coloring/ bleaching time of 0.82 s/0.86 s and achieves a coloration efficiency of 1078 cm²/C. This study proposes a strategy for designing and synthesizing high-performance black electrochromic copolymers. Black to transparent electrochromism is highly desirable for organic optoelectronics but design of black electrochromic materials that fully absorb visible light is challenging. Here, the authors report the synthesis of copolymers that absorb the entire visible spectrum by the rational design of their monomers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]