Electrochromic element

An electrochromic element comprising two conductive substrates, at least one of which is transparent;

• an ion conductive layer disposed therebetween and containing a compound having a viologen structure represented by formula (1) below;
• and an electrochromic layer disposed between the ion conductive layer and at least either one of the two conductive substrates and containing a compound represented by formula (2) or (3) below;
• formula (1) being represented by
• wherein X− and Y− may be the same or different and each are a counter anion selected from the group consisting of a halogen anion, ClO4−, BF4−, PF6−, CH3COO− and CH3(C6H4)SO3−;
• formula (2) being represented by
• wherein R1 is hydrogen or an alkyl group having 1 to 5 carbon atoms, R2, R3, R4 and R5 are each independently a hydrocarbon group or hydrocarbon residue having 1 to 20 carbon atoms and may be the same or different from each other, Ar1 and Ar2 are each independently a divalent aromatic hydrocarbon residue having 6 to 20 carbon atoms, a is an integer greater than 2 and b and c are each an integer of 0 to 3;
• and
• formula (3) being represented by
• wherein R6, R7, R8, R9 and R10 are each independently hydrogen or a hydrocarbon group residue having 1 to 20 carbon atoms, Ar4 and Ar5 are each independently a divalent aromatic hydrocarbon residue, a′ is an integer of 0 to 3, b′ is an integer of 1 or 2 and c′ is an integer greater than 2.