Greatly Simplified All-Solid-State Camera Shielding Device of Mobile Phone Based on the Shoulder-by-Shoulder Electrochromic Technology

Lately, the color-changeable electrochromic technology has been applied onto mobile phones to shield the cameras, where special demands for the electrochromic working unit are a fast bleaching response time, a high transmittance in the bleached state when cameras work, a long-lasting memory effect in the colored state when cameras are in the standby mode, and excellent cyclic stability and safety. However, in electrochromic films, long-lasting memory effect always means a slow response time. And a traditional electrochromic device contains at least five functional layers, which limits its transmittance in the bleached state on a large scale. Herein, we designed a three-layered all-solid-state camera shielding device (ITO/WO3/electrolyte) with necessary WO3 electrochromic working units and a lateral WO3 storage unit which is known as the shoulder-by-shoulder electrochromic structure. Owing to the high-performance WO3 film and the special characteristics of the shoulder-by-shoulder electrochromic technology, our greatly simplified device perfectly met all the above-mentioned requirements. This research will be a strong push for the applications of electrochromic technology onto all kinds of mobile devices.