Application of DNA In Electrochromic Cells with Switchable Transmission
A. Firmino, J.G. Grote, F. Kajzar, I. Rau and A. Pawlicka
The deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is an abundant, renewable, natural macromolecule with very good biodegradation abilities and can be used as interesting, efficient gel polymer electrolytes (GPEs) with high ionic conductivity and good stability. In this paper we report the ionic conductivity and transmittance measurements results of GPEs membranes based on plasticized DNA. The ionic conductivity at room temperature is in the range of 10-4-10-5 S/cm and increases linearly as function of temperature obeying predominantly an Arrhenius law. We show also that the DNA-based GPEs can be applied in small switchable transmission electrochromic cells, showing good electrochemical reversibility and change of color from transparent to blue. Moreover good conductivity, combined with the large transparency range and good adhesion to the electrodes, make DNA very promising materials to be used as gel electrolytes in electrochromic devices. The obtained results with DNA based membranes are compared with those got with usually used gelatin.
Keywords: Electrochromic cell, gel electrolyte, gelatin, ionic conductivity, DNA membrane, smart window.