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Smart windows could help you save money on your air conditioning bills by blocking out heat.

The windows, which are under development, can detect a rise in temperature and become opaque and white, letting the light in to keep the room bright, while shielding a house from the excess heat.

The glass becomes transparent again when the outside temperature drops.

The researchers sandwiched a jelly-like solution called a hydrogel, created using microscopic soft beads suspended in a liquid between two panes of glass. When a lamp was shone onto the glass, designed to mimic solar light, the window turned opaque (left), while keeping the inside of the model house cool

This effect is achieved by using a jelly-like material sandwiched between two sheets of glass, called a hydrogel, which reacts to light.

One problem with using hydrogels is that they can expand when exposed to heat, causing problems and reducing efficiency.

But a new study from the American Chemical Society has managed to reduce the swelling by creating a new type of hydrogel, consisting of soft microscopic beads suspended in a liquid.

Scientists sandwiched the solution between two pieces of glass and tested it using a model house.

When a lamp was shone onto the glass, designed to mimic sunlight, it turned opaque and kept the inside of the model house cool. 

The research was carried out by Xuhong Guo, Kaimin Chen, Yanfeng Gao and their colleagues. 

They are not the only scientists working on smart windows. 

For example, Samsung is developing a transparent smart window that doubles up as a screen.

This screen can fade completely to black, work as a virtual window blind, display a scene of a user's choice, or be used as an interactive screen to watch TV, check the weather and even browse and update social media accounts.

Elsewhere, technology developed by researchers from Montreal and the New York-based company Corning Incorporated has led to the first laser-written light-guiding systems that are efficient enough to be developed for commercial use.

The technology could increase the number of sensors in a phone,or be used to take a user's temperature, assess their blood sugar levels, or even analyse DNA.

Samsung is also working on smart window, but its version doubles up as a screen (pictured). This screen can fade completely to black, work as a virtual window blind, display a scene of the user's choice, or be used as an interactive screen to watch TV, check the weather and even browse and update social media accounts

The researchers have already used their new technology to build two completely transparent systems - a temperature sensor and a new system for authenticating a smartphone using infrared light - into a type of glass that's currently used in most smartphones.

In addition to biomedical sensors, the technology could also eventually allow devices to be embedded into any glass surface, such as windows or tabletops, creating transparent touchscreens.

'We're opening the Pandora's box at the moment,' said paper co-author Raman Kashyap, a professor of electrical engineering and engineering physics at Polytechnique Montreal in Canada.

Now that the technique is viable, 'it's up to people to invent new uses' for it.