We study the dependence of the photochromic effect on environment and triggering light. We demonstrate that the first darkening/bleaching cycle of freshly grown films is accompanied by a release of weakly bound hydrogen, most likely present at the grain boundaries. For consecutive photochromic cycles, we do not find further exchange of material with the environment. Moreover, we report bleaching kinetics dependent on the gas environment after darkening with light of energies below the optical bandgap of the film. For darkening with photon energies above the bandgap of the film, we report a linear relation between the degree of darkening and bleaching relaxation time irrespective of gas environment.
Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.
CITATION STYLE
Moldarev, D., Stolz, L., Moro, M. V., Aðalsteinsson, S. M., Chioar, I. A., Karazhanov, S. Z., … Wolff, M. (2021). Environmental dependence of the photochromic effect of oxygen-containing rare-earth metal hydrides. Journal of Applied Physics, 129(15). https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0041487