US buildings leak about 30% of energy through inefficient windows, estimated to cost $42 billion a year. In response to this problem, the US Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory developed a new process for the synthesis of vanadium dioxide nanoparticles. Energy-efficient 'smart windows'. Nanoparticle-based vanadium dioxide films have about twice the solar modulation of high and low temperatures. Solar modulation is the amount of solar energy that can be controlled by vanadium dioxide at low temperatures and temperatures. The material has a switch-like fastness that changes from blocking infrared to passing through it in microseconds or nanoseconds. Smart windows made from this material automatically pass infrared energy during the winter to keep the building warm and in summer Block infrared energy and keep it cool.
