Thermochromic Materials

The USA Department of Energy (USDOE) estimates that 30% of the energy used to Heat, Ventilate and Air Condition (“HVAC”) buildings in the USA is wasted due to inefficient windows, representing a cost of £27 billion per year. The USDOE further estimates that a >25% or >£6.75 bn reduction in HVAC costs could be achieved by the use of smart glass windows capable of filtering infra-red.

Thermochromic materials such as doped vanadium(IV) oxide, undergo the Metal Insulator Transition at whatever temperature trigger is tailored into the material. Post-transition, thermochromic materials are effective reflectors of infra-red radiation, which is the heat causing component of light. The key quality requirement is high purity of the vanadium(IV) oxide, as only the vanadium(IV) oxidation state is effective in efficient thermochromism. Jointly with Oxford University, we have developed technology that allows the mass production of high purity doped vanadium(IV) oxide as well as their sputtering targets. The latter can be used for sputtering thin layers of the material onto glass thereby giving glass that can screen out infra-red radiation in application as window glass for buildings. Please see our article on VO2 thermochromism in the media section of this web site.

We can supply industrial scale quantities of high purity doped vanadium(IV) oxide. If this is of interest then contact us to arrange a discussion on info@bricpoint.com.