Review on thermochromic vanadium dioxide based smart coatings: from lab to commercial application

With an urgent demand of energy efficient coatings for building fenestrations, vanadium dioxide (VO2)-based thermochromic smart coatings have been widely investigated due to the reversible phase transition of VO2 at a critical transition temperature of 68 degrees C, which is accompanied by the modulation of solar irradiation, especially in the near-infrared region. As for commercial applications in our daily life, there are still some obstacles for VO2-based smart coatings, such as the high phase transition temperature, optical properties (luminous transmittance and solar modulation ability), environmental stability in a long-time period, as well as mass production. In this review, recent progress of thermochromic smart coatings to solve above obstacles has been surveyed. Meanwhile, future development trends have also been given to promote the goal of commercial production of VO2 smart coatings.