Electrochromic Gels for Smart Windows (ChromGels)

有研究表明，大型办公楼浪费了20-40%的能源在空调上，以降低太阳对建筑物的影响。这是非常低效的，并对环境产生影响。解决这个问题的一种方法是使用智能Windows。这些窗户由变色材料组成，在施加外部刺激时会变成深色。颜色的变化导致高能量的紫外线，加热建筑物被过滤掉，从而减少了对空调的需求。据预测，这些技术将节省20%的能源账单，因为建筑物不会因阳光而升温。然而，到目前为止，这种由浅入深的颜色很难实现。可以改变颜色的智能玻璃的合适材料可以是金属基、有机基或两者的混合物。基于金属的铬化物已经用于显示器和诊断测试。然而，这些高端技术中使用的贵金属（Au和Ag）是一种快速耗尽的资源，而且开采起来往往困难和危险，其使用依赖于各国之间的良好合作。镉、铅、铀和铯等金属的加工对环境造成了巨大的影响，而这些金属的处理会产生有毒和核废物，对工人、邻近村庄和野生动物造成毁灭性影响。任何可以用有机替代品替代的金属都对健康、经济和环境有巨大的好处。有机材料通常更容易加工，可以大规模合成。我们已经发现了一种基于官能化萘二酰亚胺的分子，当在水中自组装时，该分子显示出在此类应用中使用的巨大前景。根据我们收集的原理数据证明，通过向样品施加小电压，组装的材料可以经历可逆的透明到黑色转变。这种转换是快速的，可以循环至少100次，而不会损失颜色强度或响应时间。然而，该系统需要优化以能够满足行业标准，例如超过1000个周期的稳定性，降低过渡的响应速度和整个设备的颜色均匀性。我们的目标是通过这项提案来实现这一目标，使金属系统的有机替代品在智能窗技术中具有竞争力。

It has been shown that large office buildings waste 20-40% of their energy on air-conditioning to cool down the building as a result of the sun. This is highly inefficient and has an impact on the environment. One way that has been proposed to tackle this problem is the use of Smart Windows. These windows are comprised of chromic materials that change to a dark colour upon the application an external stimulus. The change in colour results in high energy UV light that heats up the building being filtered out, thus reducing the need for air-conditioning. It is predicted that these technologies will save 20% on their energy bills, as the buildings will not heat up as much from the sunlight. However, so far this transparent-to-dark colour has been difficult to achieve. Suitable materials for Smart Glass that can change colour can be metal-based, organic-based or a hybrid of the two. Metal-based chromics are already used in displays and diagnostic tests. However, precious metals (Au and Ag) used in these high-end technologies is a rapidly running out resource, and are often difficult and dangerous to mine, and their use relies on countries cooperating well with each other. The processing of metals such as Cd, Lb, U and Cs has huge environmental consequences and the disposal of them leads to toxic and nuclear waste which has devastating effects on the workers, neighbouring villages and wildlife. Any metals that can be replaced with organic alternatives have a huge benefit to health, the economy and the environment. Organic materials are generally easier to process and can be synthesised on a larger scale. We have found a molecule based on a functionalised naphthalene diimide that when self-assembled in water shows great promise to be used in such applications. From proof of principle data we have collected, the assembled material can undergo a reversible transparent to black transition by applying a small voltage to the sample. This transition is quick and can be cycled at least 100 times without loss of colour intensity or response time. However, this system needs optimising to be able to fulfil industry standards, for example stability over 1000 cycles, reducing the speed of response of both transitions and the uniformity of colour across the device. We aim to do this with this proposal to make the organic alternative to metal systems competitive to use in the Smart Window technology.