Surface engineering on continuous VO2 thin films to improve thermochromic properties: Top-down acid etching and bottom-up self-patterning

Ning Wang; Yew Keat Peh; Shlomo Magdassi; Yi Long

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2017.10.096

Surface engineering on continuous VO₂ thin films to improve thermochromic properties: Top-down acid etching and bottom-up self-patterning

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2018 Feb 15:512:529-535. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2017.10.096. Epub 2017 Nov 6.

Authors

Ning Wang¹, Yew Keat Peh², Shlomo Magdassi³, Yi Long⁴

Affiliations

¹ Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, PR China; School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, 639798 Singapore, Singapore.
² School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, 639798 Singapore, Singapore.
³ Institute of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem 91904, Israel.
⁴ School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, 639798 Singapore, Singapore. Electronic address: longyi@ntu.edu.sg.

PMID: 29096114
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2017.10.096

Abstract

Surface engineering is an effective method to improve the thermochromic performance of VO₂. In this paper, an acid-etching top down method was proposed to tailor the VO₂ surface morphology from the continuous dense-packed surface to patterned structure, which exhibited the enhanced integrated visible transmittance (T_lum) and the enlarged solar modulating abilities (ΔT_sol). Moreover, a self-patterning approach was also illustrated to improve the thermochromic properties. The proposed surface engineering methods represent a facile and cost-effective approach for enhancing thermochromic properties that could promote the application of VO₂ thin films in smart windows.

Keywords: Acid etching: Smart window; Surface engineering; Thermochromic properties; Vanadium dioxide.