Measurement and Characterization of CeO2-TiO2 Ion Storage Films for Electrochromic Devices

CeO2-TiO2 sols and films were prepared by sol-gel method. The precursor sols consist of a mixture of cerium nitrate hexahydrate Ce(NO3)3·6H2O, butyl titanate Ti(OC4H9)4 and anhydrous ethanol CH3CH2OH. The films were deposited using the dip-coating technique and calcined at 310 °C in an oxygen atmosphere. The effects of the molar ratios of cerium to titanium（0.55:1, 0.70:1, 0.85:1, 1:1）on the microstructure and properties of (CeO2)x-TiO2 films were investigated. The surface morphology, electrochemical performance and optical property were characterized by FE-SEM, cyclic voltammetry (CV) and UV-Visible spectrometer, respectively. The results show that the properties of the films are tightly related to cerium to titanium ratio. When the molar ratio of cerium to titanium is 0.85:1, the ion storage capacity value of CeO2-TiO2 film is 19.99mC/cm2, whereas the pure TiO2 film is 11.52mC/cm2. The stability tests and optical measurements confirm that the developed CeO2-TiO2 films can be use as ion storage-counter eletrodes in electrochromic devices.