A highly visible-transparent thermochromic smart window with broadband infrared modulation for all-season energy savings
Thermochromic smart windows effectively reduce the energy consumption for buildings through passive light modulation including the transmission of visible (T<sub>Vis</sub>) and near-infrared (T<sub>NIR</sub>) light, and the emissivity of mid-infrared (ε<sub>MIR</sub>) light in response to ambient temperature change. However, thermochromic windows that maintain high T<sub>Vis</sub> while modulating T<sub>NIR</sub> and ε<sub>MIR</sub> simultaneously are highly desirable but still challenging. Here, we develop a thermochromic smart window based on a two-way shape memory polymer to enable reversible transformation and achieve T<sub>NIR</sub> modulation of 44.0% and ε<sub>MIR</sub> modulation of 76.5% while maintaining high T<sub>Vis</sub> (>50%). Compared to traditional windows based on silica glass, this device shows 4°C lower temperature in summer daytime, 2°C higher in winter daytime, and 1°C higher in spring nighttime. It is expected that our device can achieve greater annual energy savings in comparison with commercial glass anywhere in the world and promote the progress of thermochromic windows for energy-efficient buildings.
Authors
- Deshuo Kong
- Zhengwei Yang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6532-2663)
- Ningning Cao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2369-9710)
- Bin Zhu
- Yunlong Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4963-1068)
- Yi Jiang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5746-7301)
- Zipeng Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5829-4887)
- Shining N. Zhu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3472-6497)
- Jia Zhu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2871-4369)
- H. Chi
- Qiuhong Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5699-2270)
Institutions
- Ingenierie des Materiaux polymeres (FR)
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures (CN)
- Nanjing University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- National Science Review
- Published
- 2024-11-13
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1093/nsr/nwae408
- Citations
- 14
- Primary Topic
- Transition Metal Oxide Nanomaterials
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 2.36
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Government of Jiangsu Province
- Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province
- Nanjing University
- National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Nanjing University
- Wuhan Textile University
- National Key Research and Development Program of China
- Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities