Mg‐Doped VO₂@ZrO₂ Core−Shell Nanoflakes for Thermochromic Smart Windows with Enhanced Performance

Abstract

The VO2‐based smart windows can dynamically and reversibly adjust the indoor solar irradiation to reduce the energy consumption for building glasses. This paper reports the first successful preparation of Mg‐doped VO2@ZrO2 core−shell nanocrystals with promoted thermochromic performance as well as tunable appearance and wettability. The achieved combination of Tlum of 52.4% and ∆Tsol of 7.1% is comparable to the best‐reported results of VO2‐based core−shell rod structures. The thickness of ZrO2 shell is tunable between 3 and 14 nm, resulting in a slightly hydrophobic surface and a slight color change toward blue‐green and brighter produced films. The preparation method based on hydrothermal and UV‐curing methods is facile. This work may inspire future development of VO2 synthesis, their structure−property, and the application the thermochromic films for energy‐saving purposes in buildings or automobiles.

Vanadium Dioxide for Dynamically Tunable Photonics

“…The addition of Mg widens the bandgap of VO 2 which in turn enhances the transmittance in the visible region [153] . In work by Wen et al [154] . nanoflakes were fabricated using Mg‐doped VO 2 @ZrO 2 core‐shell structures (Figure 4b).…”

Recent Advances in Fabrication of Flexible, Thermochromic Vanadium Dioxide Films for Smart Windows

“…These films exhibited a high T lum (55.3%) and ∆T sol (7.5%). In addition to SiO 2 , various types of oxides, such as ZnS [146], TiO 2 [11], and ZrO 2 [147], have been utilized for overcoating to prepare core-shell NPs. Saini et al demonstrated an approach to improve the thermal stability and thermochromic properties of VO 2 (M) NPs by overcoating with CeO 2 [148].…”

Thermochromic Materials for Smart Windows: A State-of-Art Review

“…Other strategies to improve the performance of VO 2 include nano-and microscale morphology engineering (Qian et al, 2014;Kim et al, 2019;Schläefer et al, 2019;Wen et al, 2021), the use of anti-reflection coating (Zhou et al, 2016;Liu et al, 2018), porosity tuning (Kang et al, 2011), and multilayered structuring (Long et al, 2016;Sun et al, 2016;Sun et al, 2017). Fabrication complexities and costs associated with the strategies mentioned above may hinder the broader application.…”