Theoretical investigation of VO2 smart window with large-scale dynamic infrared emittance adjustment for adaptive thermal management

Abstract

Thermochromic windows based on vanadium dioxide (VO2) are widely used in architectural windows due to its reversible phase change process. However, traditional VO2 windows only manage solar radiative transmittance and their emittance variation trend in the mid-infrared contradicts realistic requirements, which seriously hinders the further development of thermochromic windows. To address this issue, a VO2 full-spectrum smart window based on theoretical calculations is proposed for adaptive adjustment of solar spectral transmittance and thermal emittance. We cleverly utilize a thin Ag layer to construct a Fabry-Perot (FP) resonant cavity with the VO2 layer to achieve forward modulation of the emittance in the atmospheric window. Notably, the smart window has 83.8 % emittance modulated ability, which enables effective control of radiative cooling and has greatly exceeded the reported performance of the smart windows while maintaining 72.8 % high visible transparency. Energy consumption analysis indicates that the smart window has high energy-saving potential worldwide, achieving over 60 MJ/m2 energy-saving effect. This simple and easy-to-manufacture smart window expands the research scope of windows and broadens application prospects in thermal management, infrared camouflage, and building energy conservation.