There is two different groups of smart films. Passive and Active.
Passive Smart Film
This is a group where the tinting of the films come from the material properties itself and the switching is autonomous. Two examples here is photochromatic and thermochromatic. Photochromatic reacts on the available light and thermochromatic, as expected, on temperature.
Photochromatic is probably the most well known since it has been available in films for very long time. Films which turns dark in bright sunlight.
Active Smart Film
Active smart film is film that can change its properties in a controllable way from external stimuli. These films changes their chromatic properties when voltage is applied.
There are three types, somewhat readily available on the market. PDLC, EC and SPD. They are often confused regarding what function they bring to the end user. Despite being somewhat similar in design and operation the transmission function is very different. The PDLC controls the haze of the light and is white in nature. The SPD and EC changes the transmission of the actual light, and is bluish in tint.
Post time: Oct-08-2019