Patent ID: 7304008

Claim:
A thermochromic material comprising a thermochromic component and a binder, wherein the thermochromic component is crystal phases based on oxides of heavy metals of I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII groups of the Periodic System selected from the group consisting of compounds of the following general formulae: (i) (Bi 2 O 3 ) 1-z (M x O y ) z where z=0–0.5, wherein M is selected from the group consisting of heavy, alkali, alkaline earth metals and mixtures thereof; (ii) (M x O y ) m (Bi 2 O 3 ) n Nb(Ta) 2 O 5 , where m=0–1, n=1–2, wherein M is selected from the group consisting of heavy, alkali, alkaline earth metals and mixtures thereof; (iii) (M x O y ) m (Bi 2 O 3 ) n Mo(W)O 3 where m=0–1, n=0–12, wherein M is selected from the group consisting of alkali, alkaline earth, heavy metals and mixtures thereof; (iv) (M x O y ) m (Me x O y ) n Mo(W)O 3 where m=0–1, n=0–1, wherein M is selected from the group consisting of alkali, alkaline earth, heavy metals and mixtures thereof, and Me is a heavy metal; (v) (M x O y ) m (Me x O y ) n Nb(Ta) 2 O 5 , where m=0–1, n=0–1, and n>0, wherein M is selected from the group consisting of alkali, alkaline earth, heavy metals and mixtures thereof, and Me is selected from the group consisting of Cu(II), Mn(II), Mn(III), Co(II), Ni(II) and Cr(III), the ratio in terms of weight percentage of thermochromic component versus binder being from 2:98 to 98:2.