The effect of annealing on the electrochromic properties of microcrystalline NiOx ®lms prepared by reactive magnetron rf sputtering

The effect of annealing on the electrochromic (EC) properties of nickel oxide (NiOx, x > 1) ®lms prepared by reactive rf sputtering is studied with electrochemical measurements, optical transmittance analysis, scanning tunneling microscope (STM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Research results show that EC properties of NiOx ®lms can be changed greatly by annealing. The mechanism for the change of electrochromic properties was discussed in details. # 2001 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.