Energy-saving windows made from common glass and cheap nanocrystals

One of the main challenges for energy efficient technologies is to lower their cost by making cheap energy-efficient materials and devices by preferably using green manufacturing technologies. For example, commercial infrared-blocking windows, both passive and active, are simply too expensive (most of these IR-blocking windows contain an expensive silver coating) and they are not used in the majority of our homes. One approach to this problem involves creating passive infrared-blocking glasses using plasmonic nanocrystals. Researchers have demonstrated that nanocrystals of relatively inexpensive plasmonic materials show an overall good performance as IR-blocking elements.