@article{d2b6c7267c5a460f8061fd681d0ebc32,
title = "Thermochromic polymer blends",
abstract = "Smart windows using thermochromic materials provide an excellent thermal management system over broad temperature ranges, leading to significant energy savings. Existing thermochromic materials face challenges, including difficulty in application, degradation during use, and limited durability. Here, we report a simple salted polymer blend system, consisting of poly(dimethylsiloxane), poly(ethylene oxide), and lithium perchlorate, that shows excellent thermochromic properties across an accessible temperature window and remarkable durability. The reversible temperature dependence of optical transmittance of the films arises due to the miscibility of the constituent polymers at room temperature, leading to high transparency, and the gradual phase separation and opaqueness with temperature rise. The easy-to-fabricate, stable polymer system can be a viable and cost-effective alternative to inorganic thermochromic materials such as vanadium dioxide for many applications.",
keywords = "smart windows, sustainable technology, thermal properties, thermochromism, three-phase system, transparent polymers",
author = "Saju, {Sreehari K.} and Puthirath, {Anand B.} and Shancheng Wang and Thierry Tsafack and Beagle, {Lucas K.} and Andrey Baydin and Nithya Chakingal and Natsumi Komatsu and Fuyang Tay and Arvin Sharma and Rohini Sreenivasan and Junichiro Kono and Robert Vajtai and Glavin, {Nicholas R.} and Yi Long and Ajayan, {Pulickel M.}",
note = "S.K.S. acknowledges the Science & Engineering Research Board (SERB), India for financial support in the form of an overseas doctoral fellowship. L.B. and N.R.G. acknowledge support from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research under grant number FA9550-20RXCOR057. J.K. acknowledges the Robert A. Welch Foundation through grant no. C-1509. Y.L. acknowledges the funding support from the Global STEM Professorship Scheme sponsored by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the Chinese University of Hong Kong Start Up Fund. P.M.A. A.B.P. and S.K.S. conceived the idea, designed and executed the experiments, and analyzed the data with S.W. Y.L. S.W. and Y.L. studied the thermochromic behavior of the films and conducted the actual building internal temperature and energy consumption simulation. T.T. performed molecular dynamic simulations. L.K.B. and N.R.G. studied the I.R. characteristics at room and elevated temperatures. A.B. N.K. F.T. and J.K. performed THz spectroscopy measurements. N.C. A.S. and R.S. helped S.K.S. in preparing the sample sets, and N.C. and R.V. joined for discussions and analysis, S.K.S. S.W. A.B.P. Y.L. and P.M.A. cowrote the manuscript. All authors contributed to the manuscript. Rice University has filed an invention disclosure (TD no. 2022-068) as well as a provisional patent for the method of synthesizing thermochromic polymer films. S.K.S. acknowledges the Science & Engineering Research Board (SERB), India for financial support in the form of an overseas doctoral fellowship. L.B. and N.R.G. acknowledge support from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research under grant number FA9550-20RXCOR057 . J.K. acknowledges the Robert A. Welch Foundation through grant no. C-1509 . Y.L. acknowledges the funding support from the Global STEM Professorship Scheme sponsored by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the Chinese University of Hong Kong Start Up Fund. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2024 Elsevier Inc.",
year = "2024",
month = sep,
day = "18",
doi = "10.1016/j.joule.2024.07.020",
language = "English",
volume = "8",
pages = "2696--2714",
journal = "Joule",
issn = "2542-4351",
publisher = "Cell Press",
number = "9",
}