Rapid microwave synthesis of mesoporous TiO2 for electrochromic displays

Pradeepan Periyat; Nigel Leyland; Declan E. McCormack; John Colreavy; David Corr; Suresh C. Pillai

doi:10.1039/B924341K

Rapid microwave synthesis of mesoporous TiO₂ for electrochromic displays†

Pradeepan Periyat,^ab Nigel Leyland,^c Declan E. McCormack,*^b John Colreavy,^a David Corr^c and Suresh C. Pillai*^a

* Corresponding authors

^a Centre for Research in Engineering and Surface Technology (CREST), FOCAS Institute, Dublin Institute of Technology, Camden Row, Dublin, Ireland
E-mail: suresh.pillai@dit.ie, declan.mccormack@dit.ie

^b School of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Dublin Institute of Technology, Kevin Street, Dublin, Ireland

^c NTERA Ltd., 58 Spruce Avenue, Stillorgan Industrial Park, Blackrock, Co., Dublin, Ireland

Abstract

The fabrication of paper quality electrochromic displays based on the viologen modified TiO₂ electrodes (Vio²⁺/TiO₂) requires a cost-effective, energy efficient and rapid synthesis of mesoporous TiO₂ with high yield in short reaction time. A straightforward and industrially viable process for the preparation of mesoporous nanocrystalline titania (meso-nc-TiO₂) for NanoChromics™ display device applications by the use of microwave synthesis is presented here. Spherical aggregates of meso-nc-TiO₂ were rapidly achieved using titanium butoxide, deionised water and common alcohols (isopropanol, ethanol and butanol) at comparatively low microwave power intensity (300 W) for 2 min irradiation. The material has been characterised by a range of different techniques such as XRD, Raman spectroscopy, SEM and BET surface area analysis. These materials possess surface areas up to 240 m² g⁻¹, which is significantly higher than similar traditional sol–gel or commercial samples. This meso-nc-TiO₂ prepared was used as the working electrode for an electrochromic display device with Sb doped SnO₂ as the counter electrode material on an ITO coated conducting glass. A working prototype of a NanoChromics™ display was successfully fabricated using this approach.

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Article information

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/B924341K
Article type: Paper
Submitted: 26 Nov 2009
Accepted: 18 Feb 2010
First published: 12 Mar 2010

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J. Mater. Chem., 2010,20, 3650-3655

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Rapid microwave synthesis of mesoporous TiO₂ for electrochromic displays

P. Periyat, N. Leyland, D. E. McCormack, J. Colreavy, D. Corr and S. C. Pillai, J. Mater. Chem., 2010, 20, 3650 DOI: 10.1039/B924341K

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Journal of Materials Chemistry