Design and reactive magnetron sputtering of thermochromic coatings

Abstract

Thermochromic coatings based on vanadium dioxide exhibit great potential in various fields, including smart energy-saving windows with temperature-dependent transmittance in the infrared at preserved transmittance in the visible. However, these promises come with challenges concerning the low-temperature preparation of high-quality crystalline VO2-based films by industry-friendly techniques and the simultaneous optimization of all coating characteristics, such as thermochromic transition temperature, luminous transmittance, and modulation of solar energy transmittance. This Perspective outlines these challenges, highlights the recent progress in the field of design and reactive magnetron sputtering of thermochromic coatings, explains the physics that allowed this progress, and provides ideas and recommendations for future research. A combination of the advantages of controlled high-power impulse magnetron sputtering with the not yet fully experimentally utilized multilayered designs constitutes the main reason why further progress is anticipated in the future.