Preparation of TiO2@W-VO2 thermochromic thin film for the application of energy efficient smart windows and energy modeling studies of the produced glass

摘要

Buildings consume huge amounts of energy in order to maintain thermal comfort for users. Among different buildings components, windows are considered as one of the most inefficient parts; so studies on energy-efficient windows have recently become crucial due to the energy crisis in the world. Thermochromic (TC) glazing is a new generation of energy-efficient smart glazing that passively changes its transmittance rate in response to temperature. Vanadium dioxide (VO2) is the most widely used TC material in thermochromic windows. To increase the transparency of glazing, augment the thermochromic properties of VO2, and set the transition temperature near the comfort zone, many dopants have been investigated and many fabrication methods have been proposed.In this research, by using the sol-gel method, we doped tungsten ions (W6+) on a vanadium dioxide film. Titanium dioxide (TiO2) was also added to the solution to produce a nanoparticle structure with both thermochromic and photocatalytic properties. To quantify the energy saving achieved by the produced TC glazing compared to standard products, a simple model of a room in a residential building was created with EnergyPlus computer software. The simulation results showed that the fabricated TC glazing could bring about a significant reduction in energy demand of buildings compared to current approaches. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.