The excellent infrared radiation regulation ability of VO2 nanorods

Abstract

Dynamic infrared radiation has significantly contributed to thermal comfort by adaptively radiating heat into space without necessitating external energy consumption. This study introduces a novel approach to fabricate dynamic infrared radiation-regulated materials using VO2 nanorods. The VO2 nanorods were synthesized via a conventional hydrothermal method. XRD and SEM analyses confirmed the high crystallinity and uniform size of the VO2 nanorods. HRTEM measurements revealed that the nanorods had an approximate length of 1 μm and a width of 100 nm. These nanorods were combined with KBr and pressed into a tablet form. Subsequent thermal imaging was conducted to assess their dynamic infrared radiation regulation capability. Remarkably, the optimized variation in emissivity for the VO2-based tablets reached up to 0.46. And the Mie scattering theory was used to interprete the insight mechanism. It seems that the Qabs of VO2 nanorod before and after phase transition dominate the dynamic infrared radiation regulation ability at different temperatures. This finding offers a novel, straightforward, and highly efficient energy-saving solution for thermal management systems.