title: VO₂/Si-Al gel nanocomposite thermochromic smart foils: largely enhanced luminous transmittance and solar modulation.
abstract: VO2 nanoparticles with a dimension of approximately 20 nm were obtained by simple mechanical bead-milling method, which were well dispersed in transparent silica-alumina (Si-Al) gel matrix to form nanocomposites. The VO2/Si-Al gel thermochromic nanocomposite foils were fabricated with various VO2 solid contents and foil thickness. With 10% VO2 loading and 3 μm foil thickness, high luminous transmittance (T(lum(20°C))=63.7% and T(lum(90°C))=54.4%), and large solar modulation ability (ΔTsol=12%) can be obtained which surpasses the best reported results (nanoporous films:T(lum(20°C))=43.3%, T(lum(90°C))=39.9% and ΔTsol=14.1%). This current approach provided a simple and scalable preparation method with the best combined thermochromic performance.
authors.affiliation: School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798, Singapore.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798, Singapore.
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem 91904, Israel.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kamyshny
authors.affiliation: School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798, Singapore; Facility for Analysis, Characterization, Testing and Simulation, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798, Singapore.
authors.forename: J Y
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Law
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem 91904, Israel.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Magdassi
authors.affiliation: School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798, Singapore. Electronic address: longyi@ntu.edu.sg.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Long
keywords: Mechanical bead milling; Nanocomposite; Nanoparticle; Nanothermochromic; Smart window; Sol–gel; Vanadium dioxide