Visible transparency modulated cooling windows using pseudorandom dielectric multilayers

The increasing global temperatures have escalated the demand for indoor cooling, thus requiring energy-saving solutions. Traditional approaches often integrate metal layers in cooling windows to block near-infrared (NIR) sunlight, which, albeit effective, lack the broad modulation of visible transmi...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Seo Seok-Beom, Lee Jong-Goog, Yu Jae-Seon, Kim Jae-Hyun, Jung Serang, Kang Gumin, Ko Hyungduk, Hu Run, Lee Eungkyu, Kim Sun-Kyung
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: De Gruyter 2025-02-01
Series:Nanophotonics
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1515/nanoph-2024-0619
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849387261572939776
author Seo Seok-Beom
Lee Jong-Goog
Yu Jae-Seon
Kim Jae-Hyun
Jung Serang
Kang Gumin
Ko Hyungduk
Hu Run
Lee Eungkyu
Kim Sun-Kyung
author_facet Seo Seok-Beom
Lee Jong-Goog
Yu Jae-Seon
Kim Jae-Hyun
Jung Serang
Kang Gumin
Ko Hyungduk
Hu Run
Lee Eungkyu
Kim Sun-Kyung
author_sort Seo Seok-Beom
collection DOAJ
description The increasing global temperatures have escalated the demand for indoor cooling, thus requiring energy-saving solutions. Traditional approaches often integrate metal layers in cooling windows to block near-infrared (NIR) sunlight, which, albeit effective, lack the broad modulation of visible transmission and lead to heat accumulation due to sunlight absorption. Here, we address these limitations by developing cooling windows using ZnS/MgF2 multilayers, optimized through a binary optimization-based active learning process. We demonstrated that these multilayers, with a total thickness below 1 µm, effectively reduced indoor temperatures by blocking NIR sunlight while achieving desired visible transmittance. The designed multilayers exhibited visible transmittance ranging from 0.41 to 0.89 while retaining decent NIR reflectance between 0.37 and 0.52. These spectral characteristics remained consistent up to incident angles of >60°, ensuring their practical applicability for vertically oriented windows. Outdoor experiments showed substantial temperature reductions of up to 8.8 °C on floors compared to uncoated glass windows. The active learning-based multilayers exhibited superior performance compared to analytical ZnS/MgF2 distributed Bragg reflectors with equivalent thicknesses by improving NIR reflectance and modulating visible transmittance. In addition, multilayers with a greater number of bits extensively tuned transmission color, enabling customization for aesthetic purposes. These findings suggest that all-dielectric multilayers can provide a scalable, cost-effective alternative for reducing energy consumption in buildings and vehicles with large glass surfaces, supporting efforts to mitigate climate change through enhanced energy efficiency.
format Article
id doaj-art-e7070a344e6d4444b06bd649f4f2b514
institution Kabale University
issn 2192-8614
language English
publishDate 2025-02-01
publisher De Gruyter
record_format Article
series Nanophotonics
spelling doaj-art-e7070a344e6d4444b06bd649f4f2b5142025-08-20T03:55:16ZengDe GruyterNanophotonics2192-86142025-02-0114101587159510.1515/nanoph-2024-0619Visible transparency modulated cooling windows using pseudorandom dielectric multilayersSeo Seok-Beom0Lee Jong-Goog1Yu Jae-Seon2Kim Jae-Hyun3Jung Serang4Kang Gumin5Ko Hyungduk6Hu Run7Lee Eungkyu8Kim Sun-Kyung9Department of Applied Physics, Kyung Hee University, Yongin17104, Republic of KoreaDepartment of Applied Physics, Kyung Hee University, Yongin17104, Republic of KoreaDepartment of Applied Physics, Kyung Hee University, Yongin17104, Republic of KoreaDepartment of Applied Physics, Kyung Hee University, Yongin17104, Republic of KoreaDepartment of Electronic Engineering, Kyung Hee University, Yongin17104, Republic of KoreaNanophotonics Research Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul02792, Republic of KoreaNanophotonics Research Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul02792, Republic of KoreaDepartment of Applied Physics, Kyung Hee University, Yongin17104, Republic of KoreaDepartment of Electronic Engineering, Kyung Hee University, Yongin17104, Republic of KoreaDepartment of Applied Physics, Kyung Hee University, Yongin17104, Republic of KoreaThe increasing global temperatures have escalated the demand for indoor cooling, thus requiring energy-saving solutions. Traditional approaches often integrate metal layers in cooling windows to block near-infrared (NIR) sunlight, which, albeit effective, lack the broad modulation of visible transmission and lead to heat accumulation due to sunlight absorption. Here, we address these limitations by developing cooling windows using ZnS/MgF2 multilayers, optimized through a binary optimization-based active learning process. We demonstrated that these multilayers, with a total thickness below 1 µm, effectively reduced indoor temperatures by blocking NIR sunlight while achieving desired visible transmittance. The designed multilayers exhibited visible transmittance ranging from 0.41 to 0.89 while retaining decent NIR reflectance between 0.37 and 0.52. These spectral characteristics remained consistent up to incident angles of >60°, ensuring their practical applicability for vertically oriented windows. Outdoor experiments showed substantial temperature reductions of up to 8.8 °C on floors compared to uncoated glass windows. The active learning-based multilayers exhibited superior performance compared to analytical ZnS/MgF2 distributed Bragg reflectors with equivalent thicknesses by improving NIR reflectance and modulating visible transmittance. In addition, multilayers with a greater number of bits extensively tuned transmission color, enabling customization for aesthetic purposes. These findings suggest that all-dielectric multilayers can provide a scalable, cost-effective alternative for reducing energy consumption in buildings and vehicles with large glass surfaces, supporting efforts to mitigate climate change through enhanced energy efficiency.https://doi.org/10.1515/nanoph-2024-0619passive coolingmultilayeroptical coatingmachine learningmultispectral designenergy-saving window
spellingShingle Seo Seok-Beom
Lee Jong-Goog
Yu Jae-Seon
Kim Jae-Hyun
Jung Serang
Kang Gumin
Ko Hyungduk
Hu Run
Lee Eungkyu
Kim Sun-Kyung
Visible transparency modulated cooling windows using pseudorandom dielectric multilayers
Nanophotonics
passive cooling
multilayer
optical coating
machine learning
multispectral design
energy-saving window
title Visible transparency modulated cooling windows using pseudorandom dielectric multilayers
title_full Visible transparency modulated cooling windows using pseudorandom dielectric multilayers
title_fullStr Visible transparency modulated cooling windows using pseudorandom dielectric multilayers
title_full_unstemmed Visible transparency modulated cooling windows using pseudorandom dielectric multilayers
title_short Visible transparency modulated cooling windows using pseudorandom dielectric multilayers
title_sort visible transparency modulated cooling windows using pseudorandom dielectric multilayers
topic passive cooling
multilayer
optical coating
machine learning
multispectral design
energy-saving window
url https://doi.org/10.1515/nanoph-2024-0619
work_keys_str_mv AT seoseokbeom visibletransparencymodulatedcoolingwindowsusingpseudorandomdielectricmultilayers
AT leejonggoog visibletransparencymodulatedcoolingwindowsusingpseudorandomdielectricmultilayers
AT yujaeseon visibletransparencymodulatedcoolingwindowsusingpseudorandomdielectricmultilayers
AT kimjaehyun visibletransparencymodulatedcoolingwindowsusingpseudorandomdielectricmultilayers
AT jungserang visibletransparencymodulatedcoolingwindowsusingpseudorandomdielectricmultilayers
AT kanggumin visibletransparencymodulatedcoolingwindowsusingpseudorandomdielectricmultilayers
AT kohyungduk visibletransparencymodulatedcoolingwindowsusingpseudorandomdielectricmultilayers
AT hurun visibletransparencymodulatedcoolingwindowsusingpseudorandomdielectricmultilayers
AT leeeungkyu visibletransparencymodulatedcoolingwindowsusingpseudorandomdielectricmultilayers
AT kimsunkyung visibletransparencymodulatedcoolingwindowsusingpseudorandomdielectricmultilayers