Engineers from the University of British Columbia have been working on technology that might make it possible to transform your living room window into a giant thermostat or TV screen.
The researchers discovered that coating small pieces of glass with extremely thin layers of metal, like silver, would make it possible to enhance the amount of light that came through the glass. Since metals naturally conduct electricity, this enhancement would make it possible to add advancements to windowpanes and any other glass objects.
“Engineers are constantly trying to expand the scope of materials that they can use for display technologies, and having thin, inexpensive, see-through components that conduct electricity will be huge,” said Kenneth Chau, UBC Associate Professor and lead investigator. “I think one of the most important implications of this research is the potential to integrate electronic capabilities into windows and make them smart.”
The entire experiment came about when Chau and collaborator Loïc Markley, an assistant professor of engineering at UBC, wondered what would happen if the practice of applying glass over metals was reversed. This is a typical method used when developing energy efficient window coatings.
“It’s been known for quite a while that you could put glass on metal to make metal more transparent, but people have never put metal on top of glass to make glass more transparent,” said Markley. “It’s counter-intuitive to think that metal could be used to enhance light transmission, but we saw that this was actually possible, and our experiments are the first to prove it.”
To further the research, Chau and the team will now incorporate their invention onto windows and try to selectively filter light and heat waves depending on the season or time of day.
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