Electrochromic iontronic devices based on nanoscale cell membrane-inspired hydrated ion channels in Nafion solid polyelectrolyte

An ion channel in a cell membrane offers a path of ion migration for perception and communication in biology. Under this inspiration, in this paper, the hydrated ion channel is introduced in a solid Nafion polyelectrolyte for electrochromic (EC) iontronic device based on WO₃. The hydrated ion channels can effectively regulate the coloration when gating the ion migration and injection into the WO₃. The coloration is characterized at different voltages in time responses. A transmission change over 50% at 400 nm is realized. This offers a new route to design functional EC iontronics that encoded the bio-mechanism.