Episode 2: Compression activates optical tuning in smart window

In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Sophia Chen interviews Gwangmin Bae of Korea University about his work with colleagues on the design of a new smart window system that utilizes compression. Like other smart windows, this window makes use of pores within the material to adjust its transparency. However, instead of using a stretchy material that controls light scattering through the pores, Bae and colleagues used a material that compresses in thickness. That is, the window becomes more transparent when it is compressed. The researchers place this structured porous material made of the polymer polydimethylsiloxane or PDMS between two panes of glass to create the smart window. This work was published in a recent issue of Nature Communications.