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The improvement of bilayer VO2/TaOx thermochromic properties for smart window

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Abstract

In this paper, the bilayer VO2/TaOx structure was investigated to control the solar spectra with the potential application as smart windows in built environments. The VO2 film was prepared by rapid thermal annealing of the sputtered vanadium thin film on the plain glass substrate. Then the TaOx as the antireflection layer was deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering on the top of the VO2 thin film. The films were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy and UV–VIS–NIR spectrophotometry. The VO2 thin film was well-crystallized and the TaOx layer did not change the preferred growth orientation of VO2. The deposition of the TaOx film formed a denser morphology, resulting in reduced surface roughness. The VO2/TaOx bilayer could markedly boost the solar regulation efficiency (ΔTsol) from 6.27 to 12.12% and possesses excellent luminous transmittance (Tlum = 46.12%). The phase transition temperature for the VO2 thin film and the bilayer VO2/TaOx were 58 °C and 56 °C, respectively, far below 68 °C of bulky VO2. The study results provide inspiration for the application of VO2 in the field of smart windows.

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The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 62004140), the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Program for College Students (Grant No. 202210060097), the Major Project of Tianjin Science and Technology (Grant Nos. 18ZXJMTG00230, 18YFYSZC00180), the Natural Science Foundation of Tianjin (Grant Nos. 14JCZDJC31500, 18JCQNJC72700), the Science and Technology Development Fund Program of Universities of Tianjin (Grant No. 2017KJ250), leading academic talents in Tianjin and the innovative talents promotion plan in Tianjin (Grant No. 2020TD003).

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Author notes

  1. Dan-ke Chen and Mao-ze Yu have contributed equally to the work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tianjin Key Laboratory of Film Electronic & Communication Devices, School of Integrated Circuit Science and Engineering, Tianjin University of Technology, Tianjin, 300384, China

    Dan-ke Chen, Mao-ze Yu, Chen-yang Hao, Wei Mi, Li-wei Zhou & Jin-shi Zhao

  2. Innetech Electronics CO. LTD., Building B, No. 4, Tianzhi Industrial Park, No. 12, Hongyuan Road, Xiqing Economic Development Zone, Tianjin, China

    Meng Wang

Authors
  1. Dan-ke Chen
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  2. Mao-ze Yu
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  4. Wei Mi
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  5. Meng Wang
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by D-kC, M-zY, C-yH, MW. Supervision, project administration, funding acquisition were performed by L-wZ, J-sZ and WM. The first draft of the manuscript was written by D-kC and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Li-wei Zhou or Jin-shi Zhao.

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Chen, Dk., Yu, Mz., Hao, Cy. et al. The improvement of bilayer VO2/TaOx thermochromic properties for smart window. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 33, 24734–24740 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-022-09180-y

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