article · Scientific Reports
Smart window coatings made from vanadium oxide offer dynamic regulation of solar infrared radiation, providing energy-free temperature control for buildings and vehicles. However, standard vanadium oxide materials typically require switching temperatures around 68.8 degrees Celsius and lack optical tunability. Researchers addressed both limitations by designing a nanoscale multilayer stack composed of vanadium pentoxide and vanadium layers on a borosilicate substrate. Modulating the thickness of the central vanadium layer allowed precise control over optical transmission in the near-infrared spectrum. At the same time, interfacial diffusion and alkaline ion doping from the substrate lowered the thermochromic phase transition temperature down to between 27.5 and 37.5 degrees Celsius, which is close to room temperature. This reversible system matches the optical performance of traditional films while functioning at practical ambient conditions.
Managing solar heat passively in buildings and vehicles can cut cooling energy needs and lower carbon emissions. Traditional thermochromic coatings switch at temperatures too hot for everyday comfort. Lowering the activation temperature close to room conditions while allowing optical tuning makes zero-energy smart windows far more feasible for everyday climate control in cars and modern architecture.
This technology is aimed at manufacturers of smart architectural windows, especially for skyscrapers, as well as the automotive glass industry seeking passive solar heat regulation. Because the findings demonstrate laboratory validation of nanostructured coating stacks on glass substrates, the work appears to be at an early stage of applied research, requiring further manufacturing scale-up and integration testing before commercial deployment.
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Solar heat management & green air-conditioning are among the major technologies that could mitigate heat islands phenomenon while minimizing significantly the CO<sub>2</sub> global foot-print within the building & automotive sectors. Chromogenic materials in general, and thermochromic smart coatings especially are promising candidates that consent a noteworthy dynamic solar radiation Infrared (NIR-IR) regulation and hence an efficient solar heat management especially with the expected increase of the global seasonal temperature. Within this contribution, two major challenging bottlenecks in vanadium oxide based smart coatings were addressed. It is validated for the first time that the NIR-IR modulation of the optical transmission (∆T<sub>TRANS</sub> = T<sub>(T〈TMIT)</sub> - T<sub>(T〉TMIT</sub>) of Vanadium oxide based smart coatings can be controlled & tuned. This upmost challenging bottle-neck controllability/tunability is confirmed via a genuine approach alongside to a simultaneous drastic reduction of the phase transition temperature T<sub>MIT</sub> from 68.8 °C to nearly room temperature. More precisely, a substantial thermochromism in multilayered V<sub>2</sub>O<sub>5</sub>/V/V<sub>2</sub>O<sub>5</sub> stacks equivalent to that of standard pure VO<sub>2</sub> thin films but with a far lower transition temperature, is reported. Such a multilayered V<sub>2</sub>O<sub>5</sub>/V/V<sub>2</sub>O<sub>5</sub> thermochromic system exhibited a net control & tunability of the optical transmission modulation in the NIR-IR (∆T<sub>TRANS</sub>) via the nano-scaled thickness' control of the intermediate Vanadium layer. In addition, the control of ∆T<sub>TRANS</sub> is accompanied by a tremendous diminution of the thermochromic transition temperature from the elevated bulk value of 68.8 °C to the range of 27.5-37.5 ºC. The observed remarkable and reversible thermochromism in such multilayered nano-scaled system of V<sub>2</sub>O<sub>5</sub>/V/V<sub>2</sub>O<sub>5</sub> is likely to be ascribed to a noteworthy interfacial diffusion, and an indirect doping by alkaline ions diffusing from the borosilicate substrate. It is hoped that the current findings would contribute in advancing thermochromic smart window technology and their applications for solar heat management in glass windows in general, skyscraper especially & in the automotive industry. If so, this would open a path to a sustainable green air-conditioning with zero-energy input.
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DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-52021-7
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