TY - JOUR
T1 - Bio-inspired micropatterned thermochromic hydrogel for concurrent smart solar transmission and rapid visible-light stealth at all-working temperatures
AU - Liang, Huaxu
AU - Zhang, Xinping
AU - Wang, Fuqiang
AU - Li, Chunzhe
AU - Yuan, Weizhe
AU - Meng, Weifeng
AU - Cheng, Ziming
AU - Dong, Yan
AU - Shi, Xuhang
AU - Yan, Yuying
AU - Yi, Hongliang
AU - Shuai, Yong
AU - Long, Yi
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - Thermochromic hydrogels exhibit a smart capacity for regulating solar spectrum transmission, enabling automatically change their transmissivity in response to the ambient temperature change. This has great importance for energy conservation purposes. Military and civilian emergency thermochromic applications require rapid visible-light stealth (VLS); however, concurrent smart solar transmission and rapid VLS is yet to be realized. Inspired by squid-skin, we propose a micropatterned thermochromic hydrogel (MTH) to realize the concurrent control of smart solar transmittance and rapid VLS at all-working temperatures. The MTH possesses two optical regulation mechanisms: optical property regulation and optical scattering, controlled by temperature and pressure, respectively. The introduced surface micropattern strategy can arbitrarily switch between normal and diffuse transmission, and the VLS response time is within 1 s compared with previous ~180 s. The MTH also has a high solar-transmission regulation range of 61%. Further, the MTH preparation method is scalable and cost-effective. This novel regulation mechanism opens a new pathway towards applications with multifunctional optical requirements.
AB - Thermochromic hydrogels exhibit a smart capacity for regulating solar spectrum transmission, enabling automatically change their transmissivity in response to the ambient temperature change. This has great importance for energy conservation purposes. Military and civilian emergency thermochromic applications require rapid visible-light stealth (VLS); however, concurrent smart solar transmission and rapid VLS is yet to be realized. Inspired by squid-skin, we propose a micropatterned thermochromic hydrogel (MTH) to realize the concurrent control of smart solar transmittance and rapid VLS at all-working temperatures. The MTH possesses two optical regulation mechanisms: optical property regulation and optical scattering, controlled by temperature and pressure, respectively. The introduced surface micropattern strategy can arbitrarily switch between normal and diffuse transmission, and the VLS response time is within 1 s compared with previous ~180 s. The MTH also has a high solar-transmission regulation range of 61%. Further, the MTH preparation method is scalable and cost-effective. This novel regulation mechanism opens a new pathway towards applications with multifunctional optical requirements.
U2 - 10.1038/s41377-024-01525-y
DO - 10.1038/s41377-024-01525-y
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 39168994
SN - 2095-5545
VL - 13
JO - Light: Science & Applications
JF - Light: Science & Applications
IS - 1
M1 - 202
ER -