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Nano and Biotech Based Materials for Energy Building Efficiency pp 71–96Cite as

Thermochromics for Energy-Efficient Buildings: Thin Surface Coatings and Nanoparticle Composites

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Abstract

This chapter outlines the state of the art of the thermochromic glazings that are able to provide energy efficiency by letting in more solar energy at a low temperature than at a high temperature, thereby leading to diminished need for space cooling. Thermochromic technology employs VO2-based materials as thin coatings or nanoparticle composites. For coatings, suitable switching between conditions with high and low solar energy throughput at low and high temperature, respectively, can be achieved by replacing some of the vanadium atoms by tungsten, and luminous transmittance can be enhanced by the addition of some magnesium. Antireflection (AR) coatings can give further improvements. By going to nanoparticle composites with VO2 dispersed in a transparent host, it is possible to combine high luminous transmittance with large modulation of solar energy transmittance. This modulation ensues from plasmonic absorption in metallic-like VO2 nanoparticles. Thermochromic glazings are not yet (2015) available as products, but the rapid development during recent years has led to performance limits that appear very interesting for practical applications. Energy modeling of buildings with thermochromic glazings points at very substantial savings. A further development may be to integrate thermochromic nanoparticles in laminated electrochromic devices.

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Acknowledgments

Helpful comments on the text were obtained from Professor Ludvik Martinu. Financial support was obtained from the European Research Council under the European Community’s Seventh Framework Program (FP7/2007–2013)/ERC Grant Agreement No. 267234 (GRINDOOR).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Engineering Sciences, The Ångström Laboratory, P.O. Box 534, SE-75121, Uppsala, Sweden

    Yu-Xia Ji, Gunnar A. Niklasson & Claes-Göran Granqvist

  2. Department of Chemistry, The Ångström Laboratory, Uppsala University, P.O Box 538, SE-75121, Uppsala, Sweden

    Mats Boman

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  1. Yu-Xia Ji
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  2. Mats Boman
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  3. Gunnar A. Niklasson
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  4. Claes-Göran Granqvist
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Correspondence to Claes-Göran Granqvist .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Minho, Guimaraães, Portugal

    F. Pacheco Torgal

  2. Department of Engineering, University of Perugia, Perugia, Perugia, Italy

    Cinzia Buratti

  3. Department of Applied Science, Anna University, Chennai, India

    Siva Kalaiselvam

  4. Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden

    Claes-Göran Granqvist

  5. Schl of Civil & Environmental Engg, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore

    Volodymyr Ivanov

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Ji, YX., Boman, M., Niklasson, G.A., Granqvist, CG. (2016). Thermochromics for Energy-Efficient Buildings: Thin Surface Coatings and Nanoparticle Composites. In: Pacheco Torgal, F., Buratti, C., Kalaiselvam, S., Granqvist, CG., Ivanov, V. (eds) Nano and Biotech Based Materials for Energy Building Efficiency. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-27505-5_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-27505-5_4

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