TY - ABST T1 - Electro-Responsive Polymer Glazings For Smart Windows With Dynamic Daylighting Control Y1 - 2012/02// A1 - Georgeta Masson A1 - Rueben Mendlesberg A1 - Irene Fernandez-Cuesta A1 - Stefano Cabrini A1 - Delia J. Milliron A1 - Brett A. Helms A1 - Eleanor S. Lee A1 - Andrew McNeil A1 - Stephen E. Selkowitz AB - In the context of alarming phenomenon of global warming with harmful consequences such as increased green house gases beyond predictions, the development of advanced energy efficient technologies became of a primary importance. Since the building sector accounts for 39% of total US primary energy consumption, fenestration can significantly contribute to lowering the energy use for heating, cooling, and lighting. An estimated 9% reduction in total US building energy use, or 3.47 Q, could be attained by dynamic solar/thermal control and daylighting if these advanced optical technologies were adopted throughout the residential and commercial building sectors. In spite of the great research and engineering efforts in the fast growing area of smart windows, development of glazing devices able to provide efficient, durable, and inexpensive products for dynamic daylight control is in infancy. Like the electrochromic glazings now emerging on the market, microscale, switchable daylight-redirecting glazings have the potential for widespread application if a low-cost, durable coating can be engineered and manufactured with the proper set of attributes.Here we report on the development of a new technology using smart materials for switchable daylight-redirecting glazings. The proposed system consists in a prismatic optical element (POE) fabricated by micro-imprinting of an elastic redox-active polymer network capable to change its geometry and thereby its optical properties in response to an external stimulus. It is expected that the prismatic optical element reversibly collapses in response to an applied potential, thereby modulating the fraction of light which is redirected. The fabrication of the dynamic prismatic optical element from simulation-driven design to materials synthesis and device integration will be described. Investigation of specto-electrochemical characteristics of the redox-active grating and challenges encountered with respect to electromechanical induced structural changes will be also presented. ER -