VO2/hydrogel hybrid nanothermochromic material with ultra-high solar modulation and luminous transmission

Although vanadium dioxide (VO2) is the most well studied thermochromic material, it is limited by its intrinsic properties of low solar modulation (ΔTsol) and low luminous transmission (Tlum) arising from the high luminous absorption of VO2 at both high and low temperature and its increased reflectivity at low temperature. A range of approaches, including nanothermochromism, nanoporosity, moth eye nanostructuring, and antireflection, have been deployed, but none of them, by experiment or by simulation, could reach even half the value of ΔTsol (∼35%) with a high average Tlum (>60%) as produced by our novel fabricated VO2/hydrogel hybrid. The hydrophilic-to-hydrophobic phase transition of PNIPAm at ∼30 °C predominantly controls the luminous modulation, while monoclinic-to-rutile phase transition of the VO2 nanoparticles at ∼68 °C mainly contributes to the infrared modulation. This is the first reported hybrid integrating inorganic with organic thermochromic materials; it offers unprecedentedly good thermochromic properties and thus opens up a new research direction.

[1]  Xiao Hu,et al.  Temperature-responsive hydrogel with ultra-large solar modulation and high luminous transmission for “smart window” applications , 2014 .

[2]  Litao Sun,et al.  Defect-mediated phase transition temperature of VO2 (M) nanoparticles with excellent thermochromic performance and low threshold voltage , 2014 .

[3]  Yanfeng Gao,et al.  Thermochromic VO2 thin films: solution-based processing, improved optical properties, and lowered phase transformation temperature. , 2010, Langmuir : the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids.

[4]  Guoqiang Tan,et al.  VO2-based double-layered films for smart windows: Optical design, all-solution preparation and improved properties , 2011 .

[5]  Yanfeng Gao,et al.  Fine crystalline VO2 nanoparticles: synthesis, abnormal phase transition temperatures and excellent optical properties of a derived VO2 nanocomposite foil , 2014 .

[6]  Au-NR/VO2-NP nanocomposites supported on glass substrates: microstructure and optical properties , 2014 .

[7]  Ioannis Papakonstantinou,et al.  A bioinspired solution for spectrally selective thermochromic VO2 coated intelligent glazing. , 2013, Optics express.

[8]  Zhixiang Wei,et al.  Integrated energy storage and electrochromic function in one flexible device: an energy storage smart window , 2012 .

[9]  Zach DeVito,et al.  Opt , 2017 .

[10]  Yanfeng Gao,et al.  Crystallised mesoporous TiO2(A)–VO2(M/R) nanocomposite films with self-cleaning and excellent thermochromic properties , 2014 .

[11]  Ning Wang,et al.  Nanoporous thermochromic VO₂ (M) thin films: controlled porosity, largely enhanced luminous transmittance and solar modulating ability. , 2014, Langmuir : the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids.

[12]  Michael E. A. Warwick,et al.  Advances in thermochromic vanadium dioxide films , 2014 .

[13]  Gunther Wyszecki,et al.  Color Science: Concepts and Methods, Quantitative Data and Formulae, 2nd Edition , 2000 .

[14]  G. G. Stokes.  "J." , 1890, The New Yale Book of Quotations.

[15]  Xiaobo Hu,et al.  Network chain density and relaxation of in situ synthesized polyacrylamide/hectorite clay nanocomposite hydrogels with ultrahigh tensibility , 2008 .

[16]  Yanfeng Gao,et al.  Solution-based fabrication of vanadium dioxide on F:SnO2 substrates with largely enhanced thermochromism and low-emissivity for energy-saving applications , 2011 .

[17]  Min Zhou,et al.  Periodic porous thermochromic VO2(M) films with enhanced visible transmittance. , 2013, Chemical communications.

[18]  Ning Wang,et al.  Multifunctional overcoats on vanadium dioxide thermochromic thin films with enhanced luminous transmission and solar modulation, hydrophobicity and anti-oxidation , 2013 .

[19]  Yanfeng Gao,et al.  VO2–Sb:SnO2 composite thermochromic smart glass foil , 2012 .

[20]  C. Elvira,et al.  Cell and cell sheet recovery from pNIPAm coatings; motivation and history to present day approaches , 2012 .

[21]  A. Cavalleri,et al.  Femtosecond Structural Dynamics in VO2 during an Ultrafast Solid-Solid Phase Transition. , 2001, Physical review letters.

[22]  Ning Wang,et al.  Bioinspired multifunctional vanadium dioxide: improved thermochromism and hydrophobicity. , 2014, Langmuir : the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids.

[23]  Yanfeng Gao,et al.  The synthesis and performance of Zr-doped and W–Zr-codoped VO2 nanoparticles and derived flexible foils , 2014 .

[24]  Aibin Huang,et al.  Synthesis of VO2 nanoparticles by a hydrothermal-assisted homogeneous precipitation approach for thermochromic applications , 2014 .

[25]  L. Feldman,et al.  Size-dependent optical properties of VO2 nanoparticle arrays. , 2004, Physical review letters.

[26]  Yanfeng Gao,et al.  Nanoporous thermochromic VO(2) films with low optical constants, enhanced luminous transmittance and thermochromic properties. , 2011, ACS applied materials & interfaces.

[27]  W. Marsden.  I and J , 2012 .

[28]  S. Magdassi,et al.  VO₂/Si-Al gel nanocomposite thermochromic smart foils: largely enhanced luminous transmittance and solar modulation. , 2014, Journal of colloid and interface science.

[29]  L. Bell.  Cooling, Heating, Generating Power, and Recovering Waste Heat with Thermoelectric Systems , 2008, Science.

[30]  Jianfang Wang,et al.  (Gold core)/(titania shell) nanostructures for plasmon-enhanced photon harvesting and generation of reactive oxygen species , 2014 .

[31]  S. Magdassi,et al.  Europium doped vanadium dioxide material : reduced phase transition temperature, enhanced luminous transmittance and solar modulation , 2014 .

[32]  P. Jin,et al.  Microemulsion-based synthesis of V1−xWxO2@SiO2 core–shell structures for smart window applications , 2014 .

[33]  Claes-Göran Granqvist,et al.  Nanothermochromics: Calculations for VO2 nanoparticles in dielectric hosts show much improved luminous transmittance and solar energy transmittance modulation , 2010 .

[34]  Claes-Göran Granqvist,et al.  Mg doping of thermochromic VO2 films enhances the optical transmittance and decreases the metal-insulator transition temperature , 2009 .

[35]  Luis Pérez-Lombard,et al.  A review on buildings energy consumption information , 2008 .

[36]  Wei Zhang,et al.  Effect of structural constraint on dynamic self-assembly behavior of PNIPAM-based nonlinear multihydrophilic block copolymers , 2013 .