A polydimethylsiloxane-coated metal structure for all-day radiative cooling

Lyu Zhou, Haomin Song, Jianwei Liang, Matthew Singer, Ming Zhou, Edgars Stegenburgs, Nan Zhang, Chen Xu, Tien Ng, Zongfu Yu, Boon Ooi, Qiaoqiang Gan*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

442 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Radiative cooling is a passive cooling strategy with zero consumption of electricity that can be used to radiate heat from buildings to reduce air-conditioning requirements. Although this technology can work well during optimal atmospheric conditions at night, it is essential to achieve efficient cooling during the daytime when peak cooling demand actually occurs. Here we report an inexpensive planar polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)/metal thermal emitter thin film structure, which was fabricated using a fast solution coating process that is scalable for large-area manufacturing. By performing tests under different environmental conditions, temperature reductions of 9.5 °C and 11.0 °C were demonstrated in the laboratory and an outside environment, respectively, with an average cooling power of ~120 W m 2 for the thin film thermal emitter. In addition, a spectral-selective structure was designed and implemented to suppress the solar input and control the divergence of the thermal emission beam. This enhanced the directionality of the thermal emissions, so the emitter’s cooling performance was less dependent on the surrounding environment. Outside experiments were performed in Buffalo, New York, realizing continuous all-day cooling of ~2–9 °C on a typical clear sunny day at Northern United States latitudes. This practical strategy that cools without electricity input could have a significant impact on global energy consumption.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)718-724
Number of pages7
JournalNature Sustainability
Volume2
Issue number8
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Aug 2019
Externally publishedYes

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