New window glass can turn from transparent to opaque and extremely fast

Room windows, aircraft doors, auto glass and even sunglasses can be installed.

Scientists have successfully developed a new type of electric window that can switch between transparent and opaque forms in just under a minute. Even though we already have the kind of glass door that can be opaque but this time, this invention relies entirely on new technology and when this window is 'propagated', we will soon distinguish bad old glasses blind.

"We don't modify the existing glass door technologies, we develop something completely new ," said researcher Michael McGehee from Stanford University.

New electric windows can transform between two transparent and opaque forms in just 1 minute.

There were people who were fortunate to experience similar technology on the plane. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is fortunate to adopt this color-changing window technology : with the click of a button, passengers can color the window from transparent to dark blue. In modern smart book repair technology, manufacturers put in a thin layer between two layers of glass, which activates the chemical components to change and discolor the window.

However, this technology has certain, even serious, minus points: the material used in this smart window is very expensive - that is tungsten oxide , not to mention the color change of the glass. can be up to 20 minutes. Over time, the chemical layer between the other two layers of glass also decayed, making the ability to change color no longer be the same.

What difference does this new technology make?

Products from McGehee's team can block light with copper elements and another type of metal reacts with incoming electricity. The window itself also needs electrical conductivity, so they use indium oxide transparent tin material, modified by platinum nanoparticles to make doors.

With just one button, passengers can color the window from transparent to dark blue.

When electricity enters the door, metal ions spread out and block all light entering the door. In transparent mode, the window can allow light to reach up to 80%; when in opaque mode, light enters only 5%.

During the test, the glass doors were turned on and off to 5,500 times but the researchers still did not see signs of degradation. This is a good sign, showing that this type of window with this new light-shielding technology will be able to be used for a long time and can be tough enough for other applications.

The time of discoloration should also be mentioned: it is short for 1 minute. If you don't believe it, watch the video below:

The video shows the "aggressiveness" of this new type of glass.

In the video above, we found that the test material is only 5cm x 5cm in size, too small to be applied to anything. Increasing the size and size of this material has some problems ahead. In order to gain a foothold in the market, the cost of this material must be cheaper than that of existing windows. Currently, the research group is targeting 50% of the market price.

'We are happy that this new window technology has the potential to maximize the ability to regulate light into the room or inside the vehicles, which will save about 20% on cooling and heating costs. , can even change the way mankind uses sunglasses' , McGehee said.