An Active and Passive Controllable Smart Glass Based on an Eco-Friendly Aqueous Solution

A smart glass, based on an eco-friendly aqueous solution, capable of controlling both transparency for privacy and the radiant energy flow for thermal insulation, is demonstrated. The transparency of the glass is self-adaptive in response to the ambient environment and can also be electrically controlled on demand. The aqueous solution used in this study is composed of water and a non-ionic surfactant used in the food industry. As the temperature of the aqueous solutions increases above the cloud point, the solution undergoes phase separation into a micelle-rich phase and a micelle-poor phase causing the incident light to be scattered by the micellar clusters. Good thermo-responsive optical properties are achieved with ≈77% luminous transmittance, ≈90% haze, and ≈64% solar regulation. The proposed smart glass fabricated from a biocompatible aqueous solution would be eco-friendly as well as exhibiting excellent energy conservation performance.