Zhao Lin, Strobach Elise, Bhatia Bikram, Yang Sungwoo, Leroy Arny, Zhang Lenan, Wang Evelyn N
Opt Express. 2019 Feb 18;27(4):A39-A50. doi: 10.1364/OE.27.000A39.
Haze in optically transparent aerogels severely degrades the visual experience, which has prevented their adoption in windows despite their outstanding thermal insulation property. Previous studies have primarily relied on experiments to characterize haze in aerogels, however, a theoretical framework to systematically investigate haze in porous media is lacking. In this work, we present a radiative transfer model that can predict haze in aerogels based on their physical properties. The model is validated using optical characterization of custom-fabricated, highly-transparent monolithic silica aerogels. The fundamental relationships between the aerogel structure and haze highlighted in this study could lead to a better understanding of light-matter interaction in a wide range of transparent porous materials and assist in the development of low-haze silica aerogels for high-performance glazing units to reduce building energy consumption.
光学透明气凝胶中的雾度会严重降低视觉体验，这使得它们尽管具有出色的隔热性能，却仍无法应用于窗户。以往的研究主要依靠实验来表征气凝胶中的雾度，然而，缺乏一个用于系统研究多孔介质中雾度的理论框架。在这项工作中，我们提出了一个辐射传输模型，该模型可以根据气凝胶的物理性质预测其雾度。通过对定制制造的高透明整体式二氧化硅气凝胶进行光学表征，对该模型进行了验证。本研究中突出的气凝胶结构与雾度之间的基本关系，有助于更好地理解各种透明多孔材料中的光与物质相互作用，并有助于开发用于高性能玻璃组件的低雾度二氧化硅气凝胶，以降低建筑能耗。
