A photo from open sources
Researchers have developed a “smart glass” that is similar the chameleon changes from smoky to transparent, and maybe tuned to different light wavelengths. Such a result may mean that we will never need curtains again, and also, that our homes will start saving electricity because glass dynamically controls the amount of light and solar heat, passing through the windows.
New glass was developed by a team of the National Laboratory Berkeley, CA, and Autonomous University of Barcelona. It made of niobate – a compound consisting of elements of niobium and oxygen. The ingredients are mixed with nanometer crystals. tin oxide of indium, which is used in touchscreens for touch screen definitions.
The resulting material is called glass because it has the characteristic structure of glass: the molecules in it are randomly scattered without a specific pattern, like liquid molecules. But in unlike liquid, it does not flow.
Such a mixture of niobate and indium oxide is amorphous. a solid (i.e. glass) surrounded by nanocrystals, coated with niobate. A sheet of such glass is placed on the electrode and a layer of liquid electrolyte is added to it, followed by a second electrode. When voltage is applied to this structure, it changes its transparency. At 4 volts, the glass is fully transparent, at 2.3 volts it blocks near infrared radiation. And at 1.5 volts it blocks the visible and near infrared light. This is because electrical charges change the structure of nanocrystals in such a way that they begin to block certain wavelengths.
A photo from open sources
In domestic use, smart glass will be a layer micrometer thickness to be applied over the usual glass, but researchers have yet to find a way to fixing in the structure of the building.
For example, an electrolyte, most likely, will have to be made hard. The team should also find good material for electrodes – in their experiment they used for one of lithium, but it’s impractical and unsafe for large panels.
But even despite these difficulties, the new glass opens way to materials that change on command, and at the same time can be made without using exotic manufacturing technician.
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