Pairing of near-ultraviolet solar cells with electrochromic windows for smart management of the solar spectrum

Davy, Nicholas C.; Sezen-Edmonds, Melda; Gao, Jia; Lin, Xin; Liu, Amy; Yao, Nan; Kahn, Antoine; Loo, Yueh‐Lin

doi:10.1038/nenergy.2017.104

Cited by 223 publications

(204 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…[1][2][3][4][5] They are recognized as a suitable "green" nanotechnology, because do not impede visibility as other conventional blinding systems, providing, at the same time, glare control, thermal, and visual comfort management. Electrochromic (EC) smart windows, or dynamic tintable glazings, belong to the promising category of products changing their light transmittance in response to external stimuli, like electric field or sunlight irradiance.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Simplified All‐Solid‐State WO₃ Based Electrochromic Devices on Single Substrate: Toward Large Area, Low Voltage, High Contrast, and Fast Switching Dynamics

Cossari

Pugliese

Simari

et al. 2020

Adv Materials Inter

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Electrochromic devices (ECDs) represent one of the most promising energy saving and solar control technology for the market of energy‐efficient building and optoelectronic devices. A continuous and intense effort is currently devoted to the development of effective solid‐state ECDs and their integration in multifunctional systems, such as photoelectrochromics. Here, the fabrication of simplified all‐solid‐state WO3 based ECDs on single‐substrate is reported, demonstrating how the rational design of highly interconnected WO3 columnar nanostructures with Nafion polymer matrix remarkably decreases the charge transport barrier at the hybrid electrolyte/electrochromic interface (EEI), thus determining an impressive improvement of overall device performances. The soft polymer substrate of the electrolyte plays a key role on the formation of WO3 pillar‐like structures and on the increase of interfacial contact area by affecting the vacuum‐deposition WO3 growth. Apart from providing higher transmittance in bleached state, the resulting device, entirely manufactured at room temperature by bottom‐up process, exhibits lower activation voltages (0.5–3 V) and faster switching kinetics (5–10 s) compared with monolithic ECDs based on both bulk and mesoporous WO3 films. Furthermore, the enhanced EEI enables the scale‐up on large area and flexible substrate ensuring simultaneously a wide optical contrast (ΔT = 70%), and high coloration efficiency.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Simplified All‐Solid‐State WO₃ Based Electrochromic Devices on Single Substrate: Toward Large Area, Low Voltage, High Contrast, and Fast Switching Dynamics

Cossari

Pugliese

Simari

et al. 2020

Adv Materials Inter

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“…The transmittance at opaque state dramatically reduced to 1% when the temperature approached to 49 °C. Meanwhile, the transmittance in near‐infrared light region also decreased drastically, illustrating that the PTCSWs prototype can block most incoming NIR and heat simultaneously . The cycle‐ability and stability of the PTCSWs prototype under sunlight irradiation are shown in Figure f.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…Although some electro‐thermochromic devices are designed and developed to utilize external electric stimulus instead of direct heating, the additional electric system/device would lead to increased complexity of device's structure and still consumes energy. Thus, sunlight‐responsive materials or solar‐powered devices in building are particularly appealing for saving energy . Especially, the ambient‐sunlight‐induced smart window is highly attractive but seldom reported in literature as far as we are aware.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sunlight‐Driven Photo‐Thermochromic Smart Windows

Cao

Cheng

et al. 2018

Solar RRL

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Smart windows have been paid much attention in recent years since they can save more energy in comparison with ordinary counterparts. However, exterior heating or electric system is still required to stimulate the color/transparency responses for current smart windows, which increases the complexity of device's structure and still consumes energy. Thus, sunlight‐responsive smart windows in building are particularly appealing for saving energy but seldom reported. Herein, we propose a facile and low‐cost method to construct reversible color/transparency switching materials by integrating the unique photothermal conversion feature of noble metal nanoparticles with thermochromic compounds. The switching behavior of thermochromic materials is not triggered by traditional exterior heating but laser/sunlight irradiation. In particular, we achieve ambient sunlight‐driven photo‐thermochromic smart windows (PTCSWs) prototype which can automatically become opaque to block sunlight on scorching days and return to a transparent state under low lighting condition. We believe that this work will pave a way for a novel class of smart windows which is highly expected to be integrated into building components to tailor specific camouflage coating and substantially save energy.

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“…For example, Loo and co‐workers reported a highly transparent (≈70%) device with ultrawide bandgap donors and acceptor that can selectively harvest near‐UV light. A PCE of ≈1.4% was obtained because of the low distribution (≈2%) of sun energy in the near‐UV region . In contrast, all‐NIR photoactive materials can maintain high visible transparency, while simultaneously utilizing NIR solar irradiation to achieve high efficiency.…”

Section: The Detailed Parameters Of T‐oscs Without and With 35 Nm Topmentioning

confidence: 99%

Highly Transparent Organic Solar Cells with All‐Near‐Infrared Photoactive Materials

Xie

Xia

et al. 2019

Small Methods

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Transparent organic photovoltaics are identified as important components for building‐integrated photovoltaics and smart window technologies. In this work, highly transparent organic solar cells (T‐OSCs) based on all‐near‐infrared (NIR) harvesting materials (optical bandgap, Enormalgopt < 1.4 eV) are first fabricated. Both donor and acceptor materials used in T‐OSCs exhibit great transparency in the visible region. After combining MoO3/Ag or MoO3/Ag/MoO3 transparent electrode, T‐OSCs show excellent visible light transmittance (VLT) of 52–61.5% with power conversion efficiencies of 3.5–4.2%. As far as it is known, this all‐NIR active layer represents the most visible transparent donor–acceptor combination in OSCs. In addition to high VLT, T‐OSCs have great aesthetic value, good color‐rendering index (CRI > 90), and high light energy utilization properties. This work highlights great potential of NIR photoactive materials for T‐OSCs.

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Pairing of near-ultraviolet solar cells with electrochromic windows for smart management of the solar spectrum

Cited by 223 publications

References 59 publications

Simplified All‐Solid‐State WO₃ Based Electrochromic Devices on Single Substrate: Toward Large Area, Low Voltage, High Contrast, and Fast Switching Dynamics

Simplified All‐Solid‐State WO₃ Based Electrochromic Devices on Single Substrate: Toward Large Area, Low Voltage, High Contrast, and Fast Switching Dynamics

Sunlight‐Driven Photo‐Thermochromic Smart Windows

Highly Transparent Organic Solar Cells with All‐Near‐Infrared Photoactive Materials

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Pairing of near-ultraviolet solar cells with electrochromic windows for smart management of the solar spectrum

Cited by 223 publications

References 59 publications

Simplified All‐Solid‐State WO3 Based Electrochromic Devices on Single Substrate: Toward Large Area, Low Voltage, High Contrast, and Fast Switching Dynamics

Simplified All‐Solid‐State WO3 Based Electrochromic Devices on Single Substrate: Toward Large Area, Low Voltage, High Contrast, and Fast Switching Dynamics

Sunlight‐Driven Photo‐Thermochromic Smart Windows

Highly Transparent Organic Solar Cells with All‐Near‐Infrared Photoactive Materials

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Product

Resources

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Simplified All‐Solid‐State WO₃ Based Electrochromic Devices on Single Substrate: Toward Large Area, Low Voltage, High Contrast, and Fast Switching Dynamics

Simplified All‐Solid‐State WO₃ Based Electrochromic Devices on Single Substrate: Toward Large Area, Low Voltage, High Contrast, and Fast Switching Dynamics