Gate-Controlled VO2 Phase Transition for High-Performance Smart Window

TL;DR

This paper presents a reversible electric-field control method for VO2 that significantly improves its solar energy regulation and transmittance, surpassing previous limits for smart window applications.

Contribution

Developed a room-temperature, electric-field induced hydrogen doping technique to control VO2 phase transitions, enhancing its suitability for energy-efficient smart windows.

Findings

Increased solar energy regulation up to 26.5%.

Maintained 70.8% visible transmittance.

Achieved record-breaking performance exceeding traditional VO2 limits.

Abstract

VO2 material is promising for developing energy-saving "smart window", owing to its thermochromic property induced by metal-insulator transition (MIT). However, its practical application is greatly limited by the relatively high critical transition temperature (~68oC), low luminous transmittance (<60%) and poor solar energy regulation ability (<15%). Here we developed a reversible and non-volatile electric-field control on the MIT of monoclinic VO2 film. With a solid electrolyte layer assisted gating treatment, we modulated the insertion/extraction of hydrogens into/from VO2 lattice at room temperature, causing tri-state phase transitions accompanied with controllable transmission adjustment. The dramatic increase of visible/infrared transmittance during the phase transition from the metallic (lightly H-doping) to insulating (heavily H-doping) phase leads to an increased solar energy regulation ability up to 26.5%, while keep 70.8% visible-luminous transmittance. These results beat all previous records and even exceeded the theoretical limit for traditional VO2 smart window, removing intrinsic disadvantages of VO2 for energy-saving utilizations. Our findings not only demonstrated an electric-field controlled phase modulation strategy, but also open the door for high-performance VO2-based smart window applications.