Surface plasmon resonance induced excellent solar control for VO2@SiO2 nanorods-based thermochromic foils

Transition-metal oxide nanocrystals are novel candidates for being used as the hosts of localized surface plasmon resonance because they exhibit fascinating properties arising from the unique characteristics of their outer-d valence electrons. VO2(M) nanocrystal is well-known due to its reversible metal-insulator transition (MIT) temperature near room temperature (∼68 °C) corresponding to the appearance/disappearance of localized surface plasmon resonance across the MIT. In this study, a microemulsion-based method was introduced to synthesize VO2(M)@SiO2 nanoparticles which were applied to prepare VO2-based thermochromic foils owing to a strong and tunable surface plasmon resonance in the metallic state. The optical transmittance spectra demonstrates that the employment of surface plasmon resonance in VO2-based thermochromic foils greatly improves their solar regulating efficiency up to 18.54%, and provides an unprecedented insight in optimizing VO2-based thermochromic windows for solar control.