New smart window material can save on your power bills
BY IANS24 Aug 2016 7:56 PM GMT
IANS24 Aug 2016 7:56 PM GMT
You may soon save on cooling and heating bills for homes thanks to the invention of a new flexible smart material that, when incorporated into windows, sunroofs, or even curved glass surfaces, will have the ability to control both heat and light from the sun.Â
Researchers reported a new low-temperature process for coating the smart material on plastic, which makes it easier and cheaper to apply than conventional coatings made directly on the glass itself. The low-temperature process developed at The University of Texas at Austin generates a material with a unique nanostructure, which doubles the efficiency of the coloration process compared with a coating produced by a conventional high-temperature process. It can switch between clear and tinted more quickly, using less power, researchers reported in a study published online in the journal Nature Materials. The team demonstrated a flexible electrochromic device, which means a small electric charge (about four volts) can lighten or darken the material and control the transmission of heat-producing, near-infrared radiation. Â Such smart windows are aimed at saving on cooling and heating bills for homes and businesses.
The new electrochromic material, has an amorphous structure, meaning the atoms lack any long-range organisation as would be found in a crystal. However, the new process yields a unique local arrangement of the atoms in a linear, chain-like structure. As a result, it is twice as energy efficient as the conventionally processed smart window material, the study said.
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