Investigation of mechanical bending instability in flexible low-temperature-processed electrochromic display devices

In this study, polyethylene naphthalate (PEN) was investigated as a flexible substrate because, compared with polyethylene terephthalate, it achieves a lower root mean square roughness and transmittance, which is favorable for reducing leakage from the bottom of flexible substrates. A flexible device structure composed of tungsten oxide/indium-doped tin oxide/PEN was used in an electrochromic (EC) test. The experimental results show that the flexible EC display device achieved a high transmittance difference of > 40% and color efficiency of 70.2 cm²/C at 560 nm. The transmittance difference was degraded in the visible range after 200 cycles of continuous bending. Furthermore, compared with flat fresh devices, the WO₃ device exhibited poor retention properties in a colored state after being subjected to longer bending cycles. - Highlights: • Flexible electrochromic device with endurance bending was demonstrated. • Interface defects or vacancies near the flexible substrate affect the self-bleaching behavior. • High color efficiency of 117.2 cm²/coul at 700 nm wavelength is reached. • Interface defect centers lower the redox energy barrier which reduces the bleaching time