Sol-Gel Deposited Amorphous Tantalum Oxide and Niobium Oxide Films as Protonic Conductors

In this work we report on the preparation of tantalum oxide and niobium oxide films by the sol-gel method for use as proton ion conductors in electrochromic devices. Measurement of the proton conductivity was derived from impedence spectroscopy measurements. The proton conductivity for Ta2O5 and NbO5 films was 4.6 x 10-6 Scm-1 and 3.2 x 10-7 Scm-1 respectively. The structural and chemical properties of the films were investigated by X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. These films were found to be amorphous and close to the stoichometry of Ta2O5 and NbO5 respectively. In order to estimate the compatibility of these sol-gel deposited layers as ion conductors for EC devices, we investigated tantalum oxide and niobium oxide films deposited on sputtered WO3 films. Charge balance and coloration characteristics were investigated during voltammetric cycling in a pH 2 liquid electrolyte. Spectral transmittance was measured for colored and bleached conditions. The photopic weighted transmittance change and solar weighted transmittance change were Tp=35.2% - 21.8% and Ts=75.7% - 14.2% for tantala films on tungsten oxide. For niobia on tungsten oxide the values were Tp=85.3% - 35.2% and Ts=75.8% - 28.1%.