3D printed hydrogel for soft thermo-responsive smart window
Lei Chen, Guihui Duan, Ce Zhang, Ping Cheng, Zhaolong Wang
Abstract
Abstract Smart windows with tunable optical properties that respond to external environments are being developed to reduce energy consumption in buildings. In the present study, we introduce a new type of 3D printed hydrogel with amazing flexibility and stretchability (as large as 1500%), as well as tunable optical performance controlled by surrounding temperatures. The hydrogel on a PDMS substrate shows transparent-opaque transition with high solar modulation (Δ T sol ) up to 79.332% around its lower critical solution temperature (LCST) while maintaining a high luminous transmittance ( T lum ) of 85.847% at 20 °C. In addition, selective transparent-opaque transition above LCST can be achieved by patterned hydrogels which are precisely fabricated via a projection micro-stereolithography based 3D printing technique. Our hydrogel promises great potential applications for the next generation of soft smart windows.