Preparation and characterization of PVB/CsxWO3/SiO2(aerogel) nanocomposites for laminated glass with high visible light transmission and excellent thermal insulation

Nanocrystalline cesium tungsten bronze (Cs_xWO₃) exhibits high transparency and near-infrared blocking effect caused by localized surface plasmon resonance and small-polaron absorption, making it a promising transparent heat insulation material. Cs_xWO₃ has certain application in energy-saving coated glass for building, but its application in laminated glass, another widely used building glass, has rarely been studied. The research on laminated glass mainly focuses on safety, but it also has high energy-saving potential, and the research in this area is relatively backward. Compared with the glass coating whose thickness limits the application of thermal insulation materials, the interlayer of laminated glass can introduce both infrared shielding materials and low thermal conductivity materials by virtue of its larger thickness, so as to achieve better thermal insulation effect. Herein, a new type of thermal insulation laminated glass was proposed. For this purpose, two types of thermal insulation nanomaterials, nanocrystalline Cs_xWO₃ and SiO₂ aerogel, were incorporated into polyvinyl butyral (PVB) to prepare PVB/Cs_xWO₃/ SiO₂-aerogel composite for the preparation of laminated glass. The materials containing Cs_xWO₃ exhibited high visible light transmittance (75%) and NIR shielding rate (77%). In addition, when appropriate content of SiO₂ aerogel was added, the thermal insulation was further improved with minimal change in the transmittance spectrum. The PVB/Cs_xWO₃/SiO₂-aerogel achieved both good visible light transmittance and excellent thermal insulation performance, making it a composite material for laminated glass in line with contemporary green energy-saving concepts.