Morphology effect on the electrochromic and electrochemical performances of NiO thin films

NiO thin films on ITO substrate were prepared by chemical bath deposition (CBD) and sol–gel method, respectively. The microstructure and morphology of the NiO films were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Both the films have polycrystalline cubic NiO, but have distinct morphology. The CBD NiO thin film with a highly porous structure exhibited a noticeable electrochromic performance. The variation of transmittance was high up to 82% at 550 nm and the coloration efficiency (CE) was calculated to be 42 cm² C⁻¹. The sol–gel NiO thin film with a smoothly compact structure presented 35% and 28 cm² C⁻¹ at 550 nm, respectively. The electrochemical properties of both the NiO thin films were investigated in 1 M KOH electrolyte by means of cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements. The CV and EIS measurements revealed that the CBD NiO thin film had better electrochemical reversibility, higher reactivity and reaction kinetics due to its highly porous structure.