Electrochromic glass

Abstract

The present invention discloses an electrochromic glass, which relates to the field of electrochromism, and includes a substrate, wherein the substrate includes a first substrate and a second substrate, wherein an electrochromic device is provided between the first substrate and the second substrate, wherein the electrochromic device is provided with a first conductive layer, an electrochromic layer, an ion conduction layer, an ion storage layer, and a second conductive layer in sequence starting from the first substrate; an electrode, wherein the electrode is provided to supply power to the electrochromic device; and the inner surface of the substrate includes a groove, wherein the groove is opposite to the electrode, the depth of the groove is less than the thickness of the substrate, and the periphery of the groove and the periphery of the substrate are sealed by edge sealing materials. The technical effect of the present invention is that the product is highly integrated, and a series of control or communication units can be additionally integrated, thereby increasing the product life after glass encapsulation.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to the field of electrochromicity, and in particular to an electrochromic glass. Background Art

[0002] Electrochromism refers to the phenomenon that optical properties (reflectivity, transmittance, absorptivity, etc.) undergo stable and reversible color changes under the action of an external electric field. Electrochromic technology has been developed for more than 40 years. Electrochromic devices (ECDs) have broad application prospects in the fields of smart windows, displays, spacecraft temperature control modulation, car non-glare rearview mirrors, weapons and equipment stealth, etc. due to their continuous adjustability of transmitted light intensity, low energy loss, and open-circuit memory function. As a new type of smart window, ECD-based glass can adjust the intensity of incident sunlight according to comfort needs, effectively reduce energy consumption, and show significant energy-saving effects. With the continuous improvement of human requirements for consumer products, ECD has shown huge market prospects and application value in the fields of automobiles, home appliances and furniture, aerospace, rail transportation, green buildings, etc. Electrochromic products have attracted more and more attention and attention at home and abroad. They are a new generation of high-efficiency building energy-saving products after heat-absorbing glass, heat-reflecting coated glass, and low-emissivity glass.

[0003] Currently, existing electrochromic products are mainly hollow packages. During the packaging process, the busbars and wires need to penetrate through the hollow package structure to connect the electrochromic device, which will seriously affect the sealing performance of the hollow electrochromic product. Whether it is printed silver paste or busbars, there is a risk of failure in the durability of the sealing performance. Once the hollow package fails, it will greatly affect the cyclic color change life of the electrochromic product and may even cause damage. Summary of the invention

[0004] In view of the above-mentioned defects of the prior art, the technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to improve the packaging reliability of electrochromic products, hide the electrodes, and improve the aesthetics.

[0005] To achieve the above-mentioned purpose, the present invention provides an electrochromic glass, comprising a substrate, wherein the substrate comprises a first substrate and a second substrate, an electrochromic device is included between the first substrate and the second substrate, and the electrochromic device is sequentially provided with a first conductive layer, an electrochromic layer, an ion conduction layer, an ion storage layer, and a second conductive layer starting from the first substrate; an electrode, wherein the electrode is configured to supply power to the electrochromic device; an inner surface of the substrate comprises a groove, wherein the groove is opposite to the electrode, the depth of the groove is less than the thickness of the substrate, and the periphery of the groove and the periphery of the substrate are sealed by an edge sealing material.

[0006] Furthermore, the groove includes a drying body.

[0007] Furthermore, the drying body is one or more of molecular sieve, silica gel, and activated alumina.

[0008] Further, the electrode includes a first electrode and a second electrode, the first electrode is electrically contacted with the first conductive layer, the second electrode is electrically connected to the second conductive layer, the first electrode is located in a groove on the inner surface of the first substrate, and the width of the first electrode corresponds to the width of the groove on the inner surface of the first substrate.

[0009] Furthermore, the electrochromic device further includes: an ion blocking layer; the ion blocking layer comprises silicon oxide or silicon aluminum oxide, the ion blocking layer is arranged between the second conductive layer and the second substrate, and the second electrode is located between the ion blocking layer and the second conductive layer.

[0010] Furthermore, the electrochromic device further includes: an isolation layer; the isolation layer is provided between the ion blocking layer and the second substrate, and the isolation layer is selected from at least one of the following materials: titanium nitride, aluminum nitride, silicon nitride, and boron nitride.

[0011] Furthermore, the electrochromic layer includes a cathode coloring material, and the ion storage layer includes an anode coloring material.

[0012] Furthermore, the cathode coloring material is selected from at least one of the following materials: tungsten oxynitride, molybdenum oxynitride, niobium oxynitride, titanium oxynitride, and tantalum oxynitride; the anode coloring material is selected from at least one of the following materials: nickel oxynitride, iridium oxynitride, manganese oxynitride, cobalt oxynitride, tungsten nickel oxynitride, iridium oxynitride, tungsten manganese oxynitride, and tungsten cobalt oxynitride.

[0013] Furthermore, it also includes: a control module, the control module is connected to the electrode, and the control module is located in the groove.

[0014] Furthermore, the groove is filled with a conductive material, and the conductive material is electrically connected to the electrode.

[0015] Furthermore, the conductive material is at least one selected from the following materials: silver paste, carbon powder, and copper paste.

[0016] Furthermore, it also includes: a cavity, wherein the cavity is located between the first substrate and the second substrate, and the cavity is in a vacuum or filled with an inert gas.

[0017] The technical effect of the present invention is that the product is highly integrated and can be additionally integrated with a series of control or communication units to increase the life of the product after glass packaging.

[0018] The concept, specific structure and technical effects of the present invention will be further described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings to fully understand the purpose, characteristics and effects of the present invention. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0019] Other features, objects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the detailed description of non-limiting embodiments made with reference to the following drawings:

[0020] Figure 1 It is a structural schematic diagram of an embodiment of the present invention;

[0021] Figure 2 It is a structural schematic diagram of another embodiment of the present invention;

[0022] Figure 3 FIG. 1 is a top view of the structure of an embodiment of the present invention.

[0023] Explanation of the reference numerals: 100 - first substrate; 200 - second substrate; 300 - groove; 400 - wire; 501 - first electrode; 502 - second electrode; 600 - dry body; 105 - first conductive layer; 110 - electrochromic stack; 115 - second conductive layer; 120 - ion blocking layer; 125 - isolation layer; 130 - cavity; 135 - edge sealing material. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0024] The following describes several preferred embodiments of the present invention with reference to the drawings in the specification, so that the technical content is clearer and easier to understand. The present invention can be embodied in many different forms of embodiments, and the protection scope of the present invention is not limited to the embodiments mentioned in the text.

[0025] In the drawings, components with the same structure are indicated by the same numerical reference numerals, and components with similar structures or functions are indicated by similar numerical reference numerals. The size and thickness of each component shown in the drawings are arbitrarily shown, and the present invention does not limit the size and thickness of each component. In order to make the illustration clearer, the thickness of the components is appropriately exaggerated in some places in the drawings.

[0026] like Figure 1As shown, the present invention discloses an electrochromic glass, comprising a substrate, the substrate comprising a first substrate 100 and a second substrate 200, an electrochromic device between the first substrate 100 and the second substrate 200, the electrochromic device sequentially arranged with a first conductive layer 105, an electrochromic stack 110, and a second conductive layer 115 starting from the first substrate 100, the electrochromic stack 110 comprising an electrochromic layer, an ion conduction layer, and an ion storage layer. It also comprises an electrode, the electrode is configured to supply power to the electrochromic device, and the electrochromic device undergoes a fading effect through the change of the current. The inner surface of the substrate comprises a groove 300, the groove 300 is opposite to the position of the electrode, the depth of the groove 300 is less than the thickness of the substrate, and the periphery of the groove 300 and the periphery of the substrate are sealed by an edge sealing material 135.

[0027] The substrate may be a flat glass. In one embodiment, the first transparent substrate 100 and the second transparent substrate 200 may also be curved glass.

[0028] The first conductive layer 105 and the second conductive layer 125 are both conventional conductive layers, and the materials include one or more of indium tin oxide (ITO), aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO), boron-doped zinc oxide (BZO), and fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO).

[0029] The electrochromic stack 110 is a conventional electrochromic element, including an electrochromic layer, an ion conducting layer and an ion storage layer. Under forward voltage and reverse voltage conditions, it cooperates with the first conductive layer 105 and the second conductive layer 115 to reversibly switch between a colored state and a bleached state, and its overall resistance is about 2 to 10 ohms.

[0030] The bottom layer in the electrochromic stack 110 is an electrochromic layer, which is disposed on the first conductive layer 105 and can be deposited on the first conductive layer 105 by vacuum coating, evaporation coating, etc., with a film thickness of 200 to 600 nm. The material is selected from one or more of tungsten oxide (WO3), molybdenum oxide (MoO3), niobium oxide (Nb2O5), and titanium oxide (TiO2).

[0031] Then, an ion conducting layer is arranged on the electrochromic layer to connect the ions between the electrochromic layer and the ion storage layer. The material is preferably metallic lithium with a film thickness of 10 to 300 nm. In order to improve the stability of lithium ions and increase the ion void ratio to increase the transmission rate, materials such as tantalum, niobium, cobalt, aluminum, silicon, phosphorus, and boron can be doped into the lithium film layer.

[0032] Finally, an ion storage layer is arranged on the ion conducting layer to store lithium ions conducted from the electrochromic layer due to the voltage, and the film thickness is 150 to 650 nm. The material of the ion storage layer is selected from nickel oxide (NiO x ), iridium oxide (IrO2) or more.

[0033] The electrodes can be made of conductive copper foil, copper-nickel welding strip, nickel-chromium welding strip, etc., and can be formed into highly adherent conductive narrow strips on the surface of the conductive film through vacuum coating, screen printing, dispensing, coating and other processes, and then the electrodes are connected to the first conductive layer 105 and the second conductive layer 125 through conductive adhesive bonding, laser welding, elastic pressing and other methods.

[0034] The groove 300 is opposite to the electrode position. When the electrochromic glass is actually used, the electrodes on the first conductive layer 105 and the second conductive layer 115 need to be connected to each other with conductive wires to form a loop. At this time, the extra conductive wires can be sorted and stored nearby in the groove 300, which hides the conductive wires and realizes the planarization of the electrochromic glass structure.

[0035] Furthermore, in some cases, the electrodes may be directly covered by the grooves 300 without using wires, and the electrodes may be directly extended to the outside of the first substrate 100 and the second substrate 200 , and then the electrodes may be connected using conductive wires to form a power circuit.

[0036] The edge sealing material 135 is a fully inorganic or inorganic-metal slurry mixed material, and can be selected from one or more of the following oxides of single substances: lithium, sodium, potassium, zinc, boron, aluminum, silicon, phosphorus, tin, and bismuth. Preferably, it is lithium oxide (Li2O), sodium oxide (Na2O), potassium oxide (K2O), zinc oxide (ZnO), boron oxide (B2O3), aluminum oxide (Al2O3), silicon dioxide (SiO2), phosphorus pentoxide (P2O5), tin oxide (SnO), and bismuth oxide (Bi2O3).

[0037] Furthermore, the groove 300 includes a drying body 600 to absorb water vapor generated in the environment and between the substrates, thereby improving the life and reliability of the electrochromic glass. Preferably, the drying body 600 can be a molecular sieve, silica gel, activated alumina, etc. Optionally, there can be multiple grooves 300 on each substrate, each of which is filled with a drying body. In addition to the grooves 300 in which the conductive wires are placed, the additional grooves 300 can further absorb the surrounding water vapor, thereby further ensuring the life of the electrochromic glass product.

[0038] Further, the electrode includes a first electrode 501 and a second electrode 502, the first electrode 501 is in electrical contact with the first conductive layer 105, the second electrode 502 is electrically connected with the second conductive layer 115, the first electrode 501 is located in the groove on the inner surface of the first substrate 100, and the width of the first electrode 501 corresponds to the width of the groove on the inner surface of the first substrate 100. Therefore, by adjusting the width of the groove 600 on the first substrate 100, the width of the first electrode 501 can also be adjusted accordingly to increase the contact area between the first electrode 501 and the first conductive layer 105, improve the current transmission rate, and reduce the resistance.

[0039] Furthermore, the electrochromic device further includes: an ion blocking layer 120; the ion blocking layer 120 comprises silicon oxide or silicon aluminum oxide. The ion blocking layer 120 is disposed between the second conductive layer 115 and the second substrate 200, and on the second conductive layer 115. The ion blocking layer 120 uses a silicon (Si) or silicon aluminum (SiAl) target material, has a thickness of 20 to 80 nm, and is composed of silicon oxide (SiO x ), silicon aluminum oxide (SiAlO x ). Due to the good density of aluminum, it can effectively block the migration of sodium and magnesium in the glass, improve the adhesion of the electrochromic film on the glass, and prevent it from peeling off.

[0040] Furthermore, the electrochromic device further includes: an isolation layer 125; the isolation layer 125 is disposed between the ion blocking layer 120 and the second substrate 200, and is an ion blocking layer. The thickness of the isolation layer 125 is 100 to 1000 nm, and its material can be one or more of titanium nitride, aluminum nitride, silicon nitride, and boron nitride. These materials have high transparency and high resistance, which can prevent the current from escaping after the device is powered on, and can also protect the functional layers deposited thereunder, such as the electrochromic layer, the ion conduction layer, etc., to reduce their physical and chemical losses.

[0041] like Figure 2 As shown, after the ion blocking layer 120 and the isolation layer 125 are introduced, the second electrode 502 remains electrically connected to the second conductive layer 115, and the ion blocking layer 120 and the isolation layer 125 cover the second electrode 502. At this time, the second electrode 502 is contacted through the groove 300 of the second substrate 200 through the wire 400. The wire 400 is placed in the groove 300 of the second substrate 200. At this time, the top view of the structure of the electrochromic glass is as follows: Figure 3 As shown, the substrate has grooves 300 on both sides, and the first electrode 501 or the second electrode 502 is led out from the grooves through a wire or directly according to the different materials used, and can start working normally after connecting the power supply. When the electrochromic glass is installed, the installation frame of the glass can block the grooves 300, and the user will not observe the grooves 300 when observing.

[0042] Furthermore, it also includes a cavity 130, which is located between the first substrate 100 and the second substrate 200, that is, any part except the electrochromic device, or the part of the electrochromic device that is not in contact with the sealing material 135 or the second substrate 200. The cavity 130 is vacuum or filled with inert gas. The inert gas can prevent the film layer of the electrochromic device from being oxidized and affect the life, that is, hollow electrochromic glass. In addition to protecting the film layer of the electrochromic device, the electrochromic glass can also further enhance the sound insulation performance of the electrochromic glass by evacuating the electrochromic glass.

[0043] When in use, the electrochromic glass can reversibly cycle between a bleached state and a colored state. In the bleached state, by applying a voltage at the first conductive layer 105 and the second conductive layer 115, lithium ions pass through the ion conduction layer and enter the electrochromic layer containing the electrochromic material to color it. When the voltage potential applied at the first conductive layer 105 and the second conductive layer 115 is reversed, the lithium ions leave the electrochromic layer and return to the ion storage layer through the ion conduction layer. Thus, the device is switched to a bleached state. Depending on the voltage control, the electrochromic glass can not only switch back and forth between the bleached state and the colored state, but also be converted into one or more intermediate color states between the bleached state and the colored state.

[0044] Further, the electrochromic layer in the electrochromic stack 110 includes a cathode coloring material, and the ion storage layer includes an anode coloring material. For example, the electrochromic layer may use a cathode coloring material, such as tungsten oxide; and the ion storage layer may use an anode coloring material, such as nickel oxide. That is, after the lithium ions leave the ion storage layer, the ion storage layer will also enter a colored state. Thus, the electrochromic layer and the ion storage layer are combined and together reduce the amount of light transmitted through the stack.

[0045] Furthermore, the electrochromic layer may be deposited with a polycrystalline metal nitride oxide film, the film thickness of which is usually 150 to 650 nanometers. The materials used include tungsten oxynitride (WO x N y ), molybdenum oxynitride (MoO x N y ), niobium oxynitride (NbO x N y ), titanium oxynitride (TiO x N y ), Tantalum Oxynitride (TaO x N y ), and the parameters of x and y also change accordingly according to the different nitrogen content. The nitrogen atomic mole number of the electrochromic layer 110 generally accounts for 0.05% to 20% of the total atomic mole number, or it can be 0.5% to 5%, or it can be 0.5% to 10%. Generally, when the nitrogen content exceeds 20%, the color of the deposited coating will deepen, which is caused by the color of the metal nitride itself. The deepening of the coating color will affect the light transmittance of the electrochromic glass in the faded state, reducing the color change range of the finished device.

[0046] After the metal oxide used in the conventional electrochromic layer is replaced with metal nitride oxide, the nitrogen ions will replace the oxygen ions in the original metal oxide according to the different nitrogen content. Taking tungsten as an example, the original "WO" ionic bond is partially replaced by the "WN" ionic bond, which causes the asymmetry of the crystal lattice, destroys the balance of forces between the original ions, and causes the adjacent atoms to deviate from the equilibrium position, causing crystal distortion. After the crystal is distorted, the interaction around the ion transmission channel is reduced, thereby increasing the ion transmission speed of the electrochromic layer. As a relatively stable element, the introduction of nitrogen itself does not affect the stability of the metal compound, and it still maintains good stability.

[0047] Similar to the electrochromic layer, the ion storage layer has a thickness of 150 to 650 nm and is made of nickel oxynitride (NiO x N y ), iridium oxynitride (IrO x N y ), manganese oxide nitrogen (MnO x N y ), cobalt oxynitride (CoO x N y ), tungsten nickel oxynitride (WNi z O x N y ), tungsten iridium oxynitride (WIr z O x N y ), tungsten manganese oxynitride (WMn z O x N y ), tungsten cobalt oxynitride (WCo z O x N y ) and the number of nitrogen atoms in the film accounts for about 0.05% to 15% of the total number of atoms. Further introducing nitrogen into the conventional ion storage layer 120, changing from conventional nickel oxide and iridium oxide materials to nickel oxynitride, iridium oxynitride or cobalt oxynitride materials, can improve the stability of the device during the color fading process, because nitride has a higher binding energy than oxide.

[0048] Furthermore, it also includes: a control module, which is connected to the electrode and is located in the groove 300. Since the control module is small, it can also be stored in the groove 300. The control module can further integrate a series of control or communication units such as wireless, photosensitive, voice-controlled, and laser, thereby integrating the electrochromic glass and its control unit, which is easy to operate and saves space, and realizes the flatness and thinness of the electrochromic glass product.

[0049] When the control module includes a wireless unit, the electrochromic glass can be connected to a mobile phone, computer, tablet, central console, etc. through Bluetooth or WiFi and wirelessly connected to the control module, and then the color fading changes of the electrochromic glass can be controlled.

[0050] By implanting a photosensitive element control module, the voltage passing through the electrochromic device in the electrochromic glass can be automatically adjusted according to the light intensity to control the transmittance of the electrochromic glass.

[0051] Furthermore, a voice control unit may be additionally added to control the transmittance of the electrochromic device through voice recognition AI.

[0052] Furthermore, a laser module may be added to use laser conduction to remotely control the transmittance of the electrochromic glass at an ultra-long distance.

[0053] By adding the above different control modules, electrochromic glass can be widely used in car sunroofs, side windows, motor vehicle side windows, aircraft portholes, ship and cruise ship portholes, smart curtain walls, smart home appliances, etc.

[0054] Furthermore, the groove 300 is filled with a conductive material, and the conductive material is electrically connected to the electrode.

[0055] The conductive material can be mixed with the dry body 600, or the conductive material can be laid flat on the dry body 600 such as the groove 300. At this time, the electrode only needs to contact the conductive material, or after being led to the conductive material in the groove 300 through the wire 400, it can be led out at the conductive material at the edge of the groove. There is no need to arrange and wrap the conductive wire and place it in the groove 300, so that the space in the groove 300 is more regular.

[0056] Furthermore, the conductive material may be selected from at least one of the following materials: silver paste, carbon powder, copper paste, and is used for conducting current.

[0057] The preferred specific embodiments of the present invention are described in detail above. It should be understood that ordinary technicians in the field can make many modifications and changes based on the concept of the present invention without creative work. Therefore, all technical solutions that can be obtained by technicians in the technical field based on the concept of the present invention through logical analysis, reasoning or limited experiments on the basis of the prior art should be within the scope of protection determined by the claims.

Claims

1. An electrochromic glass, characterized in that: It includes a substrate, an electrochromic device, and an electrode. The substrate includes a first substrate and a second substrate. The electrochromic device is included between the first substrate and the second substrate. The electrochromic device is sequentially provided with a first conductive layer, an electrochromic layer, an ion conduction layer, an ion storage layer, and a second conductive layer starting from the first substrate. The electrode is configured to supply power to the electrochromic device. The inner surface of the substrate includes a groove, the groove is opposite to the electrode, the depth of the groove is less than the thickness of the substrate, and the outer periphery of the groove and the periphery of the substrate are sealed by an edge sealing material. The groove includes a dry body.

2. The electrochromic glass according to claim 1, characterized in that: The drying body is one or more of molecular sieve, silica gel and activated alumina.

3. The electrochromic glass according to claim 1, characterized in that: The electrode includes a first electrode and a second electrode, the first electrode is electrically in contact with the first conductive layer, the second electrode is electrically connected to the second conductive layer, the first electrode is located in a groove on the inner surface of the first substrate, and the width of the first electrode corresponds to the width of the groove on the inner surface of the first substrate.

4. The electrochromic glass according to claim 3, characterized in that: The electrochromic device further includes: an ion blocking layer; the ion blocking layer comprises silicon oxide or silicon aluminum oxide, the ion blocking layer is arranged between the second conductive layer and the second substrate, and the second electrode is located between the ion blocking layer and the second conductive layer.

5. The electrochromic glass according to claim 4, characterized in that: The electrochromic device further includes: an isolation layer; the isolation layer is arranged between the ion blocking layer and the second substrate, and the isolation layer is selected from at least one of the following materials: titanium nitride, aluminum nitride, silicon nitride, and boron nitride.

6. The electrochromic glass according to claim 1, characterized in that: The electrochromic layer includes a cathode coloring material, and the ion storage layer includes an anode coloring material.

7. The electrochromic glass according to claim 6, characterized in that: The cathode coloring material is selected from at least one of the following materials: tungsten oxynitride, molybdenum oxynitride, niobium oxynitride, titanium oxynitride, and tantalum oxynitride; the anode coloring material is selected from at least one of the following materials: nickel oxynitride, iridium oxynitride, manganese oxynitride, cobalt oxynitride, tungsten nickel oxynitride, iridium oxynitride, tungsten manganese oxynitride, and tungsten cobalt oxynitride.

8. The electrochromic glass according to claim 1, characterized in that: Also includes: A control module is connected to the electrode and is located in the groove.

9. The electrochromic glass according to claim 1, characterized in that: The grooves are filled with conductive material, and the conductive material is electrically connected to the electrodes.

10. The electrochromic glass according to claim 9, characterized in that: The conductive material is at least one selected from the following materials: silver paste, carbon powder, and copper paste.

11. The electrochromic glass according to claim 1, characterized in that: Also includes: A cavity is located between the first substrate and the second substrate, and the cavity is vacuum or filled with an inert gas.

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