Physical crosslinked hydrogel-derived smart windows: anti-freezing and fast thermal responsive performance.
Mater Horiz
; 10(6): 2004-2012, 2023 Jun 06.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-37000535
ABSTRACT
Thermochromic hydrogels are versatile smart materials that have many applications, including in smart windows, sensing, camouflage, etc. The previous reports of hydrogel smart windows have been based on covalent crosslinking, requiring multistep processing, and complicated preparation. Moreover, most research studies focused on enhancing the luminous transmittance (Tlum) and modulating ability (ΔTsol), while the structural integrity and antifreezing ability, which are essential in practical applications, have been compromised and rarely investigated. Herein, we develop a new physical (noncovalent crosslinked) hydrogel-derived smart window by introducing an in situ free radical polymerization (FRP) of N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAM) in a glycerol-water (GW) binary solvent system. The noncovalent crosslinked PNIPAM GW solutions are facilely synthesized, giving outstanding freezing tolerance (â¼-18 °C), a comparably high Tlum of 90%, and ΔTsol of 60.8%, together with added advantages of fast response time (â¼10 s) and good structural integrity before and after phase transition. This work could provide a new strategy to design and fabricate heat stimulated smart hydrogels not limited to energy saving smart windows.
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Banco de datos:
MEDLINE
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Mater Horiz
Año:
2023
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
China