Printable Thermochromic Hydrogel-Based Smart Window for All-Weather Building Temperature Regulation in Diverse Climates

Guoqi Chen; Kai Wang; Jiahui Yang; Jie Huang; Zhongfeng Chen; Jingxia Zheng; Jingquan Wang; Hailong Yang; Shengnan Li; Yueyue Miao; Wenquan Wang; Nannan Zhu; Xiancai Jiang; Yongming Chen; Jun Fu

doi:10.1002/adma.202211716

Printable Thermochromic Hydrogel-Based Smart Window for All-Weather Building Temperature Regulation in Diverse Climates

Adv Mater. 2023 May;35(20):e2211716. doi: 10.1002/adma.202211716. Epub 2023 Mar 30.

Authors

Guoqi Chen¹, Kai Wang², Jiahui Yang³, Jie Huang⁴, Zhongfeng Chen⁵, Jingxia Zheng¹, Jingquan Wang², Hailong Yang¹, Shengnan Li¹, Yueyue Miao¹, Wenquan Wang⁶, Nannan Zhu¹, Xiancai Jiang², Yongming Chen¹, Jun Fu¹

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Polymeric Composite and Functional Materials of Ministry of Education, Guangdong Functional Biomaterials Engineering Technology Research Center, Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronic Materials and Wearable Devices, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, 510275, China.
² School of Chemical Engineering, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, 350108, China.
³ State Key Laboratory of Organic-Inorganic Composites, College of Chemical Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, 100029, China.
⁴ Center for Ecological Restoration and Carbon Fixation, Shanxi Research Institute for Clean Energy of Tsinghua University, Taiyuan, 030032, China.
⁵ Shanghai Key Lab of Advanced High-temperature Materials and Precision Forming, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China.
⁶ Hospital of Stomatology, Guanghua School of Stomatology, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510055, China.

PMID: 36822599
DOI: 10.1002/adma.202211716

Abstract

Thermochromic smart windows are widely developed to modulate building energy exchange to save building energy consumption. However, most smart windows have fixed working temperatures, moderate energy-saving efficiency, and are not suitable for diverse (cold and hot) climates. Here smart windows with strong temperature modulation over a broad range of hydrogels with adjustable transition temperatures for all-weather building temperature regulation in different climates are reported. Thermochromic poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-N, N-dimethylacrylamide) hydrogels, with lower critical transition temperatures ranging from 32.5 to 43.5 °C, are developed for smart windows with solar modulation up to 88.84% and intrinsic transmittance up to 91.30% over full spectrum without energy input. Simulated indoor investigations are performed in different cities from 23 °N to 39 °N from winter to summer. The results indicate that smart windows have a strong solar modulation in summer to reduce indoor temperature up to 7.3 °C and efficient heat conservation in winter to save energy up to 4.30 J m^-3 , in comparison to glass windows. Smart windows with grid patterns and Chinese kirigami are fabricated by using 3D printing of the hydrogels to achieve both solar modulation and light incidence. The strategy offers an innovative path for thermochromic smart windows for low carbon economy.

Keywords: diverse climates; energy saving; smart windows; temperature regulations; thermochromic hydrogel.

Abstract

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