article · Advanced Science
Wearable electronics benefit greatly from combining colour-changing displays with energy storage, but conventional self-powered electrochromic systems often require open configurations that depend on continuous chemical replenishment. To address this limitation, researchers have developed a closed-system electrochromic device that integrates a zinc and manganese dioxide ionic battery with a Prussian blue colour-changing material. In this design, the battery components serve as shared electrodes: zinc reduces the Prussian blue to clear Prussian white while acting as an anode, and manganese dioxide re-oxidises the material while acting as a cathode. The internal potential gradient drives the colouring and bleaching cycles without external chemicals. The resulting device achieves high optical contrast, rapid switching speeds of a few seconds, and sustained cycling stability. A functional prototype operating in air also demonstrated high optical contrast and flexible design potential for wearable technologies.
Many colour-changing electronic materials require external power supplies or open chemical environments, making them impractical for portable use. By integrating battery chemistry directly into a sealed optical device, this approach allows materials to switch colour autonomously. This simplifies hardware design and establishes a practical foundation for self-sustaining optical displays in portable and wearable electronics.
The design is targeted at manufacturers of flexible displays, smart surfaces, and wearable electronics requiring autonomous optical switching. The technology appears to be at an applied laboratory testing stage, having progressed to an air-working, flexible prototype that completes over 80 operating cycles. Moving towards commercialisation will require further validation of long-term cyclic durability, material stability, and integration into existing electronic manufacturing processes.
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The integration of electrochromic devices and energy storage systems in wearable electronics is highly desirable yet challenging, because self-powered electrochromic devices often require an open system design for continuous replenishment of the strong oxidants to enable the coloring/bleaching processes. A self-powered electrochromic device has been developed with a close configuration by integrating a Zn/MnO<sub>2</sub> ionic battery into the Prussian blue (PB)-based electrochromic system. Zn and MnO<sub>2</sub> electrodes, as dual shared electrodes, the former one can reduce the PB electrode to the Prussian white (PW) electrode and serves as the anode in the battery; the latter electrode can oxidize the PW electrode to its initial state and acts as the cathode in the battery. The bleaching/coloring processes are driven by the gradient potential between Zn/PB and PW/MnO<sub>2</sub> electrodes. The as-prepared Zn||PB||MnO<sub>2</sub> system demonstrates superior electrochromic performance, including excellent optical contrast (80.6%), fast self-bleaching/coloring speed (2.0/3.2 s for bleaching/coloring), and long-term self-powered electrochromic cycles. An air-working Zn||PB||MnO<sub>2</sub> device is also developed with a 70.3% optical contrast, fast switching speed (2.2/4.8 s for bleaching/coloring), and over 80 self-bleaching/coloring cycles. Furthermore, the closed nature enables the fabrication of various flexible electrochromic devices, exhibiting great potentials for the next-generation wearable electrochromic devices.
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DOI: 10.1002/advs.202401948
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