Broadband light management in hydrogel glass for energy efficient windows

Jia Fu; Chunzao Feng; Yutian Liao; Mingran Mao; Huidong Liu; Kang Liu

doi:10.1007/s12200-022-00033-4

Broadband light management in hydrogel glass for energy efficient windows

Front Optoelectron. 2022 Aug 5;15(1):33. doi: 10.1007/s12200-022-00033-4.

Authors

Jia Fu^#¹, Chunzao Feng^#¹, Yutian Liao¹, Mingran Mao¹, Huidong Liu², Kang Liu^{3

4}

Affiliations

¹ MOE Key Laboratory of Hydraulic Machinery Transients, School of Power and Mechanical Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China.
² MOE Key Laboratory of Hydraulic Machinery Transients, School of Power and Mechanical Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China. liuhuidong30@whu.edu.cn.
³ MOE Key Laboratory of Hydraulic Machinery Transients, School of Power and Mechanical Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China. kang.liu@whu.edu.cn.
⁴ Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, China. kang.liu@whu.edu.cn.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Windows are critically important components in building envelopes that have a significant effect on the integral energy budget. For energy saving, here we propose a novel design of hydrogel-glass which consists of a layer of hydrogel and a layer of normal glass. Compared with traditional glass, the hydrogel-glass possesses a higher level of visible light transmission, stronger near-infrared light blocking, and higher mid-infrared thermal emittance. With these properties, hydrogel-glass based windows can enhance indoor illumination and reduce the temperature, reducing energy use for both lighting and cooling. Energy savings ranging from 2.37 to 10.45 MJ/m² per year can be achieved for typical school buildings located in different cities around the world according to our simulations. With broadband light management covering the visible and thermal infrared regions of the spectrum, hydrogel-glass shows great potential for application in energy-saving windows.

Keywords: Broadband; Energy saving; Hydrogel; Light management; Windows.