Abstract
Smart windows, capable of selective filtering of solar spectral radiation can help to significantly reduce the energy consumption by heating and cooling systems. However, robust and industry-standard designs of such windows, tunable for all-weather conditions, have been a challenge to date. In this work, we report on the design of ultra-thin electrotunable smart window ‘glasses’ using noble metals as well as their relatively-inexpensive alternatives. We adopt a lithography-free design approach using multilayer metallo-dielectric structure, that can dynamically control the intensity of transmitted solar radiation, depending upon the weather/climate condition. We make use of an electro-optic polymer as dielectric, which on applying voltage, changes the effective refractive index by virtue of electro-optic effect, allowing tunable filtering of visible and infrared radiation over a voltage range of −15 V to +15 V. Our theoretical results are in excellent agreement with those of full-wave simulations. Our design is robust, ultra-thin (60–100 nm thick), large-area compatible, polarization-independent, and angle-insensitive (up to 75 degrees). Aluminium oxynitride based glasses are suitable for designing military-grade, bulletproof, portable, and blast-resistant windows. The figure-of-merit calculations reveal that our relatively-inexpensive metals can outperform industry-standard commercial glasses as well as infrared-blocking plasmonic glasses, reported in the literature.
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