Infrared thermochromic antenna composite for self-adaptive thermoregulation.

ABSTRACT: Self-adaptive thermoregulation, the mechanism living organisms use to balance their temperature, holds great promise for decarbonizing cooling and heating processes. This functionality can be effectively emulated by engineering the thermal emissivity of materials to adapt to background temperature variations. Yet, solutions that marry large emissivity switching ( Δϵ ) with scalability, cost-effectiveness, and design freedom are still lacking. Here, we fill this gap by introducing infrared dipole antennas made of tunable thermochromic materials. We demonstrate that non-spherical antennas (rods, stars and flakes) made of vanadium-dioxide can exhibit a massive (~200-fold) increase in their absorption cross-section as temperature rises. Embedding these antennas in polymer films, or simply spra

SUBMITTER: Ramirez-Cuevas FV 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11496700 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature