Ultra-wideband transparent conductive electrode for solar and radiation heat management
Unmet Need
In the United States, 37% of electricity consumption is attributable to residential use with a sizeable portion of that electricity going towards heating and cooling applications (15% of national energy consumption goes towards building temperature control). There is a need for lower energy consumption and sustainable methods in controlling internal building temperature that are able to be deployed unobtrusively in modern structures.
Technology
Duke inventors have developed a thin-film electrochromic glass device that can alternately act as a cooling or heating element using low-voltage operation and natural solar energy. This is intended to be employed as a large surface area device on the outer surface of glass structures such as windows wherein the heat management can be most effective. Specifically, the electrochromic device functions by varying emissivity from a low state (absorbing solar heat) or a high state (dissipating internal heat) to enable heat management across the surface of the glass. The transparent conductive electrodes provide electronic control of the electrochromic device to vary its thermal properties while rendering transparent under a wideband of wavelengths including optical and infrared spectra. This has been demonstrated with a fully functioning glass device prototype that is capable of varying emissivity from 0.20 to 0.94 by applying a low-voltage of 0.1 V across the transparent conductive electrodes of the multilayer electrochromic device.
Other Applications
This technology could also be used in other electrochromic and display technologies where utilizing a transparent conductive electrode could be beneficial to the application.
Advantages
- Wide range of emissivity control for thermal management
- Low-voltage operation requirements
- Wideband transparency for use in see-through applications