Subject Of Our recent investigations is the utilization of a reversible thermotropic material for a self-regulating Sun protection glazing that controls the solar energy input in order to avoid overheating. Based on the well-established UV Curing technology for laminated glass a superior thermotropic material with tunable switching characteristics and of low material costs was developed. The polymer layer contains core/shell particles homogeneously dispersed in a UV-cured resin. The particle core in turn consists of an n-alkane mixture that is responsible for the temperature-induced clear/opaque switching. To obtain particles of well-defined size and with a narrow size distribution, the miniemulsion polymerization technique was used. The visible and solar optical properties (normal-normal, normal-hemispherical, and normal-diffuse transmittance) in the off (clear) and in the on state (opaque) were determined by UV/Vis/NIR spectroscopy. Samples containing particles of high median diameter (> 800 nm) primarily scatter in the forward direction. However, with smaller particles (300-600 nm) a higher backscattering (reflection) efficiency was achieved. The largest difference in the normal-hemispherical transmittance could be found with a particle amount of 6% and a median scattering domain diameter of similar to 380 nm. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.