Windows are one of the weak points of our homes in terms of insulation capacity refers, since they present a point of contact with the outside through which we lose cold in summer and heat in winter.
Hence, advances like the one we bring you today are most interesting in order to achieve glass and windows that are able to reduce these losses and at the same time improve lighting options at home.
A squid-inspired “liquid window”
Traditionally, smart windows integrate an electronic control system that activates or deactivates an interior material through the passage of a current varying the opacity of the glass.
The proposal of these researchers from the University of Toronto goes a step further and divides the interior of the crystals into interconnected cells imitating the cells of some animals such as squids, which can distribute and move different pigments between them.
The idea is that these smart crystals include various types of materials or liquid pigments with different properties when it comes to letting the wavelengths of sunlight through and that can move from one cell to another.
Thus, for example, there are materials that allow all light to pass through, others that block part of the visible spectrum, and others that let only infrared rays through. Combining all of them, it is possible to vary the opacity of the windows in different ways depending on what material or pigment we send to each cell.
According to the researchers, in cases where the system is used to control the amount of light and the amount of heat that we let in, it is possible to achieve energy savings of up to 50%.
At the moment it is a technology that is under developmentbut the idea of having this type of windows at home sounds very promising.
More information | University of Toronto