Professor Michael McGehee and Professor Ivan Smalyukh are the principal investigators on two Department of Energy-funded projects to improve building technologies and energy efficiency in the built environment. Their projects are among selected as part of the Building Technologies Office’s competitive Building Energy Efficiency Frontiers & Innovation Technologies funding program.

The projects were selected under the program’s Topic Area 2, Advanced Building Construction category for building envelope research, development and field validation.

Professor Smalyukh is the principal investigator on a project to develop thin-film monolithic mesoporous metamaterials for ultrahigh-efficiency glazing solutions for use on windows with insulating capabilities that meet or exceed that of walls. This will allow buildings to let in natural sunlight during the day without compromising their thermal efficiency.

Professor Michael McGehee is working with his local startup, TYNT Technologies, to develop dynamic windows that feature reversible metal electrodeposition, a process that is less expensive than current manufacturing methods by a significant margin.

The Department of Energy’s investment in building energy efficiency totals nearly $83 million across 44 projects.

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Professor Ivan Smalyukh

Professor Ivan Smalyukh is one of the winners of the for his innovative work in the colloid and surface chemistry fields. Smalyukh will deliver a special presentation at the 2021 ACS Fall National Meeting, as will Professor Deborah Leckband of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, who also earned the honor.

“My presentation at the ACS fall meeting will focus on highly thermally insulating porous materials that are also highly transparent and, thus, suitable for a large variety of applications where thermal superinsulation and high transparency are needed at the same time, including windows, skylights, greenhouses and so on,” Smalyukh said. “It will discuss how such materials can boost the energy efficiency of buildings—especially windows—which are currently responsible for the consumption of about 40% of all energy generated in the United States.”

Smalyukh’s materials work is an interdisciplinary mix of engineering, physics and chemistry research to address fundamental and application challenges in colloids and surface science.

He cited many students who worked with him through the Materials Science and Engineering program as key contributors to his materials research, including Qiaoxuan Zhang—the first student to graduate from the program with a master’s degree—Haley Sohn and Ghadah Sheetah—the first PhD graduates—Rao Fei, Allister Frazier, Joshua De La Cruz, Rayshan Visvanathan, Pedro Melo and Changda Darren Liu.

“I would like to thank the ACS selection committee, as well as my team members and collaborators with whom I have enjoyed working on colloid and surface science projects over the years,” Smalyukh said. “Just over the last 14 years since my arrival at ŷ���ڱ���Ƶ Boulder, my team included about 150 PhD students, postdoctoral fellows, undergraduate researchers and visiting scholars. This award would not be possible without the collaborative contributions of all of these  team members.”

The will take place Aug. 22-26 in Atlanta.

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