Millisecond switching in solid state electrochromic polymer devices fabricated from ionic self-assembled multilayers

The electrochromic switching times of solid state conducting polymer devices fabricated by the ionic self-assembled multilayer method has been investigated. The devices were composed of bilayers of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene): poly(styrenesulfonate) and poly(allylamine hydrochloride) on indium tin oxide substrates. Devices fabricated from 40 bilayer thick films have coloration and decolaration switching times of 31 and 6 ms, respectively, with low applied voltage (1.4 V) for an active area of 0.6 cm(2). The switching times have been shown to decrease with the active area of the electrochromic device suggesting that even faster electrochromic switching times are possible for devices with smaller areas. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics.