Preparation and characterization of transparent Al doped ZnO/epoxy composite as thermal-insulating coating

In this article, transparent Al doped ZnO (AZO)/epoxy composite, as glass thermal insulation coating, was prepared by incorporating AZO nanoparticles into a transparent epoxy matrix. First, the as-synthesized AZO nanoparticles by the polymer pyrolysis method were characterized and the effect of Al doping content on the electrical conductivity of AZO nanoparticles was investigated. The results reveal that the AZO nanoparticles doped with 6 mol% Al obtained from calcination at 600 °C show the optimal electrical conductivity. The effects of AZO content on the optical and thermal insulation property of AZO/epoxy coating were also studied. It is shown that the AZO/epoxy composite coating with 0.5 wt% AZO possesses excellent optical properties, i.e. visible light transmittance above 50% and shading coefficient of 0.45 are simultaneously achieved. In addition, the large temperature difference between the chambers coated respectively with the AZO/epoxy coated glasses and the common glass indicates that the prepared AZO/epoxy coating has an excellent thermal insulation property.