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Recent Progress of Materials for Smart Windows
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Recent Progress of Materials for Smart Windows

A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Smart Materials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 February 2024) | Viewed by 2101

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Mariana Fernandes

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
CQ-VR and Department of Chemistry, University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, 5000-811 Vila Real, Portugal
Interests: sol-gel process; organic/inorganic hybrids; electroytes; electrochromic devices; “smart windows”
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Verónica de Zea Bermudez

E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
Department of Chemistry and CQ-VR, University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal
Interests: sol–gel process; organic/inorganic hybrids; electroytes; electrochromic devices; “smart windows”
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Energy is one of the most important factors in economic growth and social development in all countries. The need to reduce energy consumption and to apply solar energy in buildings is mandatory—and when designing low-energy buildings, it is among the construction details that should be taken into consideration, especially as far as windows are concerned. “Smart windows” are a promising technology for saving energy that can be employed in architectural glazing or skylights to control sunlight transmittance and solar heat gain (visible and near-infrared radiation of the solar spectrum, respectively) by means of a dynamic and reversible regulation of the color change (electrochromism or thermochromism). Apart from reducing energy use (heating, cooling, and ventilation), this sort of solution increases indoor thermal and visual comfort and outdoor view. The development of advanced materials will enable the production of high-performance smart windows for more sustainable and energy-efficient buildings.

It is our pleasure to invite you to submit a manuscript for this Special Issue. Full papers, communications, and reviews are all welcome. The Special Issue will focus, though not exclusively, on new trends in “Innovation in Materials for Smart Windows”.

Dr. Mariana Fernandes
Prof. Dr. Verónica de Zea Bermudez
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Materials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • “smart windows”
  • electrochomic devices
  • electrolyte materials
  • electrode materials
  • transparent conductive oxides
  • near-infrared transparent conductive oxides
  • deposition techniques

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 4604 KiB  
Article
Near-Infrared Reflective Polymer Films Based on UV-327-Doped Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles
by Xiaohui Zhao, Yutong Liu, Yue Cao, Hui Cao, Huihui Wang, Zhou Yang, Dong Wang and Wanli He
Materials 2023, 16(24), 7660; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16247660 - 15 Dec 2023
Viewed by 598
Abstract
We prepared cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) films with broadband reflective properties by admixing organic dye UV-327 into inorganic zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs), utilizing the principle of pitch distribution from a large to a small gradient along the film thickness direction, leading to [...] Read more.
We prepared cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) films with broadband reflective properties by admixing organic dye UV-327 into inorganic zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs), utilizing the principle of pitch distribution from a large to a small gradient along the film thickness direction, leading to broadband reflection. ZnO NPs are poorly dispersed and easy to gather, but they do not decompose easily. The addition of UV-327 makes up for the above shortcomings. UV-327 is an organic compound with good compatibility and dispersion with liquid crystal systems. Therefore, we used the method of mixing two UV-absorbing dyes (UV-327 and ZnO NPs) to obtain CLC films. UV-absorbing dyes (UV-327 and ZnO NPs) made the liquid crystal films form a UV intensity gradient in the direction of thickness, prompting the polymerizable monomers to polymerize faster on the stronger side of the light, leading to the relative diffusion of chiral molecules and polymerizable monomers, forming the concentration gradient of chiral molecules in the direction of thickness. The pitch has a gradient distribution as the chiral concentration varies. Then, anchored by the polymer network, the pitch gradient distribution no longer changes. Broadened reflective bandwidth can reach up to 881 nm. Furthermore, the film covers the near-infrared wavelength band well, which can be applied to future smart windows or laser shielding for medical and military applications. It is also believed that this achievement will optimize the preparation technology of broadband reflective CLC films in the future. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Progress of Materials for Smart Windows)
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14 pages, 2380 KiB  
Article
Effects of Additives on Electrochromic Properties of Nanocrystalline Tungsten Oxide Films Prepared by Complexation-Assisted Sol–Gel Method
by Dan Zhou, Zhibo Tong, Hongmei Xie, Jiaotong Sun and Fenggui Chen
Materials 2023, 16(7), 2681; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16072681 - 28 Mar 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1097
Abstract
To improve the electrochromic (EC) properties of sol–gel-derived WO3 films, a series of organic small molecules, such as dopamine (DA), catechol, tyramine, phenol and 2-phenylethylamine, were added into peroxotungstic acid precursor sols as structure-directing additives, and five modified WO3 films were [...] Read more.
To improve the electrochromic (EC) properties of sol–gel-derived WO3 films, a series of organic small molecules, such as dopamine (DA), catechol, tyramine, phenol and 2-phenylethylamine, were added into peroxotungstic acid precursor sols as structure-directing additives, and five modified WO3 films were prepared by a simple and low-cost complexation-assisted sol–gel method. The effects of the above additives on the EC properties of the modified WO3 films have been studied in detail. Compared with the pure WO3 polycrystalline film, all the modified films combine the advantages of nanocrystalline and amorphous phases and show higher EC properties attributed to the unique nanocrystal-embedded amorphous structure. The results indicate that different additives with different numbers and types of functional groups (hydroxyl and amino groups) can change the microstructure, morphology, and thus electrochemical and EC properties of the films in various degrees. The additives, in order of their strong interactions with the sols, are DA, catechol, tyramine, phenol and 2-phenylethylamine, primarily depending on the number of hydroxyl groups. Of all the additives, DA with both catechol hydroxyl and amino groups shows the most positive effect; that is, the WO3 film modified with DA exhibits the best EC properties in terms of contrast, switching speed, stability, and coloration efficiency. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Progress of Materials for Smart Windows)
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