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Tri-band electrochromic smart window for energy savings in buildings

Nature Sustainability (2024)Cite this article

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Abstract

Electrochromic windows provide a sustainable solution for use in energy-efficient buildings as their varying optical properties in changing weather conditions allow the optimization of solar radiation heat gain and indoor thermal comfort. However, as the wavelength range of sunlight that can be used remains limited, broader implementation of this technology is hampered. Here we present an electrochromic design that combines radiative cooling of mid-infrared light and maximized utilization of both visible and near-infrared light. Our electrochromic window takes advantage of a WO3/VO2 film structure that, with a controllable lithium-ion intercalation depth, affords three active optical states to control visible and near-infrared transmittance independently. Moreover, the use of electrodes with preferred emissivity at both surfaces serves to optimize the radiative heat exchange between the indoor and outdoor environments. Field experiments and simulations show that our device exhibits higher energy savings than a commercial low-emissivity glass in most climate zones around the world. Our findings suggest ample opportunities for energy-saving window designs that can help achieve global carbon neutrality and sustainability.

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Fig. 1: Concept and design of the EC device.
Fig. 2: Characteristics of the tri-band-optimized EC device.
Fig. 3: Outdoor performance of the EC device.
Fig. 4: Energy-saving evaluation of optimized tri-band EC device.

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Data availability

All data needed to support the findings of this study are included in the main text or in Supplementary Information. The data associated with the Article have been deposited via Zenodo at https://zenodo.org/records/10815585 (ref. 38). The climate database used in this study is available at https://energyplus.net/weather.

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Acknowledgements

This study was financially supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (number 2021YFA0718900), the Key Collaborative Research Program of the Alliance of International Science Organizations (number ANSO-CR-KP-2021-01), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (numbers 52302370 and 62175248), the Shanghai ‘Science and Technology Innovation Action Plan’ Intergovernmental International Science and Technology Cooperation Program (number 21520712500), the Shanghai Science and Technology Funds (number 23ZR1481900) and the Science Foundation for Youth Scholar of State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructures (number SKL202202).

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Zewei Shao, Aibin Huang, Cuicui Cao.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of High-Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructure, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China

    Zewei Shao, Aibin Huang, Cuicui Cao, Xiaowei Ji, Ping Jin & Xun Cao

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Zewei Shao, Aibin Huang, Cuicui Cao, Ping Jin & Xun Cao

  3. School of Science, Tianjin University, Tianjin, China

    Wei Hu

  4. Institute for the Conservation of Cultural Heritage, Shanghai University, Shanghai, China

    Hongjie Luo

  5. Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation), Research and Innovation Division, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia

    John Bell

  6. State Key Laboratory of Coal Combustion, School of Energy and Power Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China

    Ronggui Yang

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  1. Zewei Shao
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Contributions

X.C. conceived the project. Z.S., X.C. and A.H. designed the experiments and analysed the data. Z.S., X.J. and A.H. performed the experiments and some characterizations. Z.S., C.C., W.H. and R.Y. performed optical simulations under the supervision of P.J., J.B. and H.L. X.C. and Z.S. conceived the device working mechanism and conducted computational studies and data analysis. Z.S. and R.Y. wrote the paper. All authors discussed the results and commented on the paper.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Ronggui Yang or Xun Cao.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Nature Sustainability thanks Gil Ju Lee, Yuehong Su and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Figs. 1–35, Tables 1–5 and References 1–36.

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Shao, Z., Huang, A., Cao, C. et al. Tri-band electrochromic smart window for energy savings in buildings. Nat Sustain (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-024-01349-z

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