Abstract
Abstract Effective management of heat transfer, such as conduction and radiation, through glass windows is one of the most challenging issues in smart window technology. In this work, reduced Graphene Oxide (rGO) thin films of varying thicknesses are fabricated onto Fluorine-doped Tin Oxide (FTO) glass via electrophoretic deposition technique. The sample thicknesses increase with increasing number of deposition cycles (5, 10, 20 cycles). It is hypothesized that such rGO thin films, which are well-known for their high thermal conductivities, can conduct heat away laterally towards heat sinks and reduce near-infrared (NIR) transmittance through them, thus effectively slowing down the temperature increment indoors. The performance of rGO/FTO in reducing indoor temperatures is investigated with a solar simulator and a UV-Vis-NIR spectrophotometer. The 20-cycles rGO thin films showed 30% more NIR blocked at 1000 nm as compared to clean FTO, as well as the least temperature increment of 0.57 °C following 30 min of solar irradiation. Furthermore, the visible transmittance of the as-fabricated rGO films remain on par with commercial solar films, enabling up to 60% of visible light transmittance for optimal balance of transparency and heat reduction. These results suggest that the rGO thin films have great potential in blocking heat transfer and are highly recommended for smart window applications.
Highlights
Global warming and rapid fossil fuel depletion are major issues that have continued to intensify over the years, yet remain without a clear resolution
The large reduction peaks observed are due to the removal of oxygen functional groups in Graphene Oxide (GO) to form reduced graphene oxide (rGO) [22]
The rGO thin films were investigated for its potential to be incorporated into smart windows to block heat transfer
Summary
Global warming and rapid fossil fuel depletion are major issues that have continued to intensify over the years, yet remain without a clear resolution. An effective method for the management of heat conduction can be achieved by coating a superior thermally-conductive layer on the glass surface This layer, which works to a double or triple-glazed window, can minimize heat diffusion through the glass [5,6]. Single-walled and multi-walled CNTs were reported to have high thermal conductivities of 3500 W/mK between 300 and 800 K and 3000 W/mK at room temperature respectively [9] As such, these carbon-based materials have huge potentials as thermal interface materials for heat removal, cooling systems for the electronic industry [10,11], anti-fogging devices and in heatable smart windows etc [12]. As-fabricated rGO thin films can be a promising coating material to manage the heat conduction through glass windows
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