New Clear Coating Developed for Windows
MONDAY, AUGUST 10, 2020
A new coating has been developed at RMIT University (Melbourne, Australia), one that researchers say could bring down the cost of energy-saving windows and become a standard in new builds and retrofits.
The spray-on coating is described as “ultra-thin, cost-effective and rival[s] the performance of current industry standards for transparent electrodes.”
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A new coating has been developed at RMIT University, one that researchers say could bring down the cost of energy-saving windows and become a standard in new builds and retrofits. |
The current process for such a coating relies heavily on raw materials and is made through a time-consuming process, according to RMIT. This new method, however, is fast, scalable and “based on cheaper materials that are readily available.”
“Smart windows and low-E glass can help regulate temperatures inside a building, delivering major environmental benefits and financial savings, but they remain expensive and challenging to manufacture,” said Della Gaspera, a senior lecturer and Australian Research Council DECRA Fellow at RMIT.
“We’re keen to collaborate with industry to further develop this innovative type of coating. The ultimate aim is to make smart windows much more widely accessible, cutting energy costs and reducing the carbon footprint of new and retrofitted buildings.”
Researchers say the method could both simplify the fabrication of smart windows as well as low-emissivity glass.
First author Jaewon Kim, a PhD researcher in Applied Chemistry at RMIT, said the next steps in the research are developing precursors that will decompose at lower temperatures, allowing the coatings to be deposited on plastics and used in flexible electronics, as well as producing larger prototypes by scaling up the deposition.
“The spray coater we use can be automatically controlled and programmed, so fabricating bigger proof-of-concept panels will be relatively simple,” he said.
Tagged categories: Coatings Technology; Coatings Technology; Glass coatings; Research and development; Windows
