Smart windows for adaptive solar control fabricated with bistable grafted hydrogels
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초록
내용
Smart windows driven by electrical energy and thermal energy are most promising on-demand solar control through adjusting optical transmittance. In this study, we prepared an optically bistable windows through memory function of volume changes. It can be minimalized energy consumption during operation of switching optical transmittance. To achieve this strategy, the grafted multi-component copolymers were synthesized by grafting the chemical composition gradient of three different monomers onto the methyl cellulose backbone. The prepared hydrogels showed a smooth phase transition during heating and a large thermal hysteresis in the swelling behavior during cooling. Based on the novel thermal behavior, the optically bistable glazing that could be switched as stepwise activation depending on applied current can be prepared. The developed bistable window is expected to provide energy efficient devices through on-demand solar control and variation in visibility.