Study and Development of a Novel Perovskite Thermochromic Smart Window with Electricity Generation Capability for Building Applications

Description

Nearly half of the thermal energy is gained/lost through windows in buildings. This is even more severe in modern high-rise buildings due to a significant increase in window-to-wall ratio. To reduce the energy gain/loss through windows, thermqchromic smart windowsthat can block solar radiation at a hot state (e.g. during the daytime or in summer), but allow the passing of solar radiation to maintain a warm indoor environment at a cold state (e.g. in winter), are proposed. However, existing common thermochromic smart windowssuffer from several problems that prevent commercialization: 1) low luminous transmittance (~50%), and 2) low solar modulation ability (~10%). Therefore, this project aims to study and develop a novel perovskite thermochromic smart window (PTSW) with enhanced luminous transmittance and solar modulation ability for building applications. Most importantly, the PTSW can also generate electricity as a solar panel at the hot state. Therefore, the PTSW not only can reduce energy consumption of air-conditioning systems, but it can also generate electricity to charge electronic devices, such as sensors and smart phones, further reducing the electricity consumption in buildings. Overall, to combine smart window technology and photovoltaic technology into a single window achieving two targets, energy-saving and energy generation, is very interesting and novel.