Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Electrical Switching of Nematic Plasmonic Nanocolloids for Infrared Solar Gain Control

Journal Article · · Advanced Optical Materials
Controlling solar gain is essential to reduce the energy consumption by residential and commercial buildings, which are responsible for ≈40% of all energy generated globally. However, the dynamic control of solar gain in the near-infrared that corresponds to ≈50% of the overall Sun's energy at the Earth's surface, separately from the visible spectral range has been a challenge, albeit commercial coatings provide passive control while retaining highly visible transmission. To address this problem, in this paper switchable silver colloids (SSCs) are demonstrated, colloidal analogs of the common silver coatings used for solar gain control. When dispersed in a nematic liquid crystal, orientations of such plasmonic silver nanoplates are controlled by ≈1 V low-voltage electric fields, allowing for sub-second switching of the near-infrared-based solar gain. Installed and retrofit products made from thin films of such nanoplate dispersions confined between glass and plastic substrates, respectively, exhibit electrically controlled infrared-based solar gain while retaining high visible-range transparency, low haze, and high color rendering index. Furthermore, this study's findings reveal a great potential of soft-matter systems in addressing energy-related problems.
Research Organization:
University of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division (MSE)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0019293
OSTI ID:
2341908
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1893798
Journal Information:
Advanced Optical Materials, Journal Name: Advanced Optical Materials Journal Issue: 20 Vol. 10; ISSN 2195-1071
Publisher:
WileyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (60)

Solar Energy Collectors with Tunable Transmission journal April 2010
Recent Advances on Dual‐Band Electrochromic Materials and Devices journal January 2022
Electrically Controllable Selective Reflection of Chiral Nematic Liquid Crystal/Chiral Ionic Liquid Composites journal January 2010
Cholesteric Liquid Crystals with a Broad Light Reflection Band journal October 2012
Alternative Plasmonic Materials: Beyond Gold and Silver journal May 2013
Thermal Management by Engineering the Alignment of Nanocellulose journal June 2020
Plasmonic Oxygen‐Deficient TiO 2‐ x Nanocrystals for Dual‐Band Electrochromic Smart Windows with Efficient Energy Recycling journal September 2020
Recent Advances in Electrochromic Smart Fenestration journal October 2017
Plasmonic Photothermal Nanoparticles for Biomedical Applications journal July 2019
Infrared Regulating Smart Window Based on Organic Materials journal March 2017
Mesostructured Composite Materials with Electrically Tunable Upconverting Properties journal August 2015
Plasmonics: Fundamentals and Applications book January 2007
Solar control coating on glass journal August 1998
United States energy and CO2 savings potential from deployment of near-infrared electrochromic window glazings journal July 2015
Polymer dispersed liquid crystal retrofitted smart switchable glazing: Energy saving, diurnal illumination, and CO2 mitigation prospective journal May 2022
A Visible Light-Near-Infrared Dual-Band Smart Window with Internal Energy Storage journal April 2019
Present Efficiencies and Future Opportunities in Thermophotovoltaics journal August 2020
Advanced thermal regulating materials and systems for energy saving and thermal comfort in buildings journal March 2022
Self-powered NIR-selective dynamic windows based on broad tuning of the localized surface plasmon resonance in mesoporous ITO electrodes journal December 2016
A review of transparent-reflective switchable glass technologies for building facades journal December 2021
A review of conventional, advanced, and smart glazing technologies and materials for improving indoor environment journal January 2017
Principles of Condensed Matter Physics book January 1995
Plasmonic Solar Cells: From Rational Design to Mechanism Overview journal December 2016
Next-Generation Optical Nanotweezers for Dynamic Manipulation: From Surface to Bulk journal May 2020
Nanocomposite Architecture for Rapid, Spectrally-Selective Electrochromic Modulation of Solar Transmittance journal July 2015
Facile Synthesis of Ag Nanorods with No Plasmon Resonance Peak in the Visible Region by Using Pd Decahedra of 16 nm in Size as Seeds journal September 2015
Dual Band Electrochromic Devices Based on Nb-Doped TiO2 Nanocrystalline Electrodes journal March 2017
Noble Metals on the Nanoscale: Optical and Photothermal Properties and Some Applications in Imaging, Sensing, Biology, and Medicine journal December 2008
Controlling the Synthesis and Assembly of Silver Nanostructures for Plasmonic Applications journal June 2011
A Nanoscale Optical Biosensor:  Sensitivity and Selectivity of an Approach Based on the Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance Spectroscopy of Triangular Silver Nanoparticles journal September 2002
Tunable Localized Surface Plasmon Resonances in Tungsten Oxide Nanocrystals journal February 2012
Size-Controlled Synthesis of Nanoparticles. 2. Measurement of Extinction, Scattering, and Absorption Cross Sections journal September 2004
Seeded Growth of Uniform Ag Nanoplates with High Aspect Ratio and Widely Tunable Surface Plasmon Bands journal December 2010
Tunable Infrared Absorption and Visible Transparency of Colloidal Aluminum-Doped Zinc Oxide Nanocrystals journal November 2011
Electrically and Optically Tunable Plasmonic Guest–Host Liquid Crystals with Long-Range Ordered Nanoparticles journal June 2014
Metal Nanoparticle Dispersion, Alignment, and Assembly in Nematic Liquid Crystals for Applications in Switchable Plasmonic Color Filters and E-Polarizers journal February 2015
What is light? The visible spectrum and beyond journal January 2016
Demonstration of a spaser-based nanolaser journal August 2009
Tunable near-infrared and visible-light transmittance in nanocrystal-in-glass composites journal August 2013
Biosensing with plasmonic nanosensors journal June 2008
Plasmonics for improved photovoltaic devices journal February 2010
Linear topology in amorphous metal oxide electrochromic networks obtained via low-temperature solution processing journal August 2016
Ten years of spasers and plasmonic nanolasers journal May 2020
All optical dynamic nanomanipulation with active colloidal tweezers journal September 2019
Randomness in highly reflective silver nanoparticles and their localized optical fields journal August 2014
Electrically switchable polymer stabilised broadband infrared reflectors and their potential as smart windows for energy saving in buildings journal July 2015
Electrically tunable infrared reflector with adjustable bandwidth broadening up to 1100 nm journal January 2016
Monoclinic oxygen-deficient tungsten oxide nanowires for dynamic and independent control of near-infrared and visible light transmittance journal January 2018
Al 3+ intercalation/de-intercalation-enabled dual-band electrochromic smart windows with a high optical modulation, quick response and long cycle life journal January 2018
Electro-optical study of chiral nematic liquid crystal/chiral ionic liquid composites with electrically controllable selective reflection characteristics journal January 2010
Switchable broadband light reflection in polymer-stabilized cholesteric liquid crystals journal August 2001
Absorption and scattering of light by Pt, Pd, Ag, and Au nanodisks: Absolute cross sections and branching ratios journal May 2007
Effective electrically tunable infrared reflectors based on polymer stabilised cholesteric liquid crystals journal June 2018
Nano-plasmonic antennas in the near infrared regime journal January 2012
Dielectric and electrical characterization of 5CB nematic liquid crystal doped with silver nanoparticles journal February 2016
Near Infrared Absorption of Tungsten Oxide Nanoparticle Dispersions journal September 2007
Homeotropic alignment behavior of liquid crystal molecules on self-assembled monolayers with fluorinated alkyl chain journal July 2018
Switchable Materials for Smart Windows journal June 2016
Liquid Crystal Colloids journal March 2018
Transparent near-infrared reflector metasurface with randomly dispersed silver nanodisks journal April 2014

Similar Records

Design and Preparation of Nematic Colloidal Particles
Journal Article · Thu Jul 21 20:00:00 EDT 2022 · Langmuir · OSTI ID:2341942

Thermally reconfigurable monoclinic nematic colloidal fluids
Journal Article · Tue Feb 09 19:00:00 EST 2021 · Nature (London) · OSTI ID:1764614