Photochromic transparent wood (PTW) is a kind of highly
desirable,
green, energy-saving building material with a practical aesthetic.
The application of PTW in smart windows still faces daunting challenges
owing to the poor stability of photochromic reversibility and low
sensitivity to sunlight. In this work, we develop a kind of prominent
switchable PTW based on poplar wood (SPTW-P) that shows high sensitivity
to sunlight using a new simple fabrication method. In contrast to
commonly reported UV-responsive counterpart, our SPTW-P, obtained
by microencapsulating active component and polymer with matched refractive
index, exhibits the fastest switchable (∼1.5 s) photochromic
response to sunlight, high sensitivity of color changing from colorless
to peachy pink, strong mechanical strength (87.3 MPa), good transparency,
and ideal cycling stability, as evidenced by the 100% maintenance
of its original photochromic effect after cycling 30 times. The SPTW-P
material not only shows superb UV-blocking (the highest UV-blocking
value is up to 97.7%) for protecting skin, excellent thermal insulation
for energy saving, good size maintenance, wonderful shape, and chemical
stability (100%), but also exhibits excellent aesthetic properties
(e.g., moldable aesthetic patterns). This work could promote the development
of aesthetic functional transparent wood as sustainable building materials
to substantially reduce carbon emissions and energy consumption.