1. National Engineering Research Center of Light Alloy Net Forming and Key state Laboratory of Metal Matrix Composites, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University2. Shanghai Innovation Institute for Materials
As a new functional material, hydrogen-chromic film is mainly composed of a core composite film with reversible hydrogen storage property. It converts between transparent and reflective states through hydrogenation and dehydrogenation, regulates light at the visible and infrared spectrum intelligently. Therefore, it is widely used in smart switchable energy-saving window and hydrogen sensor. Magnesium has high hydrogen storage capacity and abundant output, then it is easy to be combined with various elements, these characteristics make magnesium-based materials play an important role in hydrogen energy application. The magnesium-based thin film device has the advantages such as simple structure, rapid response, wide optical control range and strong sustainability, it is the main hydrogen-chromic film material currently. This paper reviews the research process of hydrogen-chromic magnesium-based films, including their development, color change principle and composite system in the fields of smart window and optic fiber sensor, meanwhile, the current problems and modification mechanisms during the research status are also been briefly analyzed, then their future developments are prospected.