A hydrophobic alloy-coated Zn anode for durable electrochromic devices

To mitigate Zn corrosion, dendrite growth and hydrogen evolution reactions (HER) in Zn-anode based electrochromic devices, hydrophobic CuZn5 alloy was coated on Zn@CuZn with lower nucleation potential, high coulombic efficiency, inhibited HER, and prolonged reversibility, enabling improved switching kinetics and cycling stability in an electrochromic Zn@CuZn||Prussian Blue (PB) device. A hydrophobic CuZn5 alloy coating was introduced onto a Zn anode to improve the reversibility and stability. Such a hydrophobic alloy-coated Zn anode enabled the assembly of electrochromic devices with extended cycling stability and fast switching.