Gold Nanorods for Near-Infrared Attenuation in SnO2:F Thin Films

Glass industry looks for climate-adaptive windows, the so-called "smart windows," to promote energy-saving buildings and homes. Tropical countries experience high temperatures for most of the year and infrared blocking windows are convenient to promote low air conditioning usage and save energy. In this work, we propose a glass coating consisting of gold nanorods deposited on thin films of SnO2:F (FTO) to attenuate the near-and mid-infrared radiation from the sun and hot objects. FTO is a low emissivity material that is transparent in the visible and reflects mid-infrared radiation. On the other hand, metallic rod-shaped nanoparticles can attenuate near-infrared radiation. The prepared samples showed a high reflectance from 20000 nm and attenuation of near-infrared, all this without compromising the passage of visible light.