Development of High-Performance Flexible Radiative Cooling Film Using PDMS/TiO2 Microparticles

Abstract

Radiative cooling, which cools an object below its surrounding temperature without any energy consumption, is one of the most promising techniques for zero-energy systems. In principle, the radiative cooling technique reflects incident solar energy and emits its thermal radiation energy into outer space. To achieve maximized cooling performance, it is crucial to attain high spectral reflectance in the solar spectrum (0.3–2.5 μm) and high spectral emittance in the atmospheric window (8–13 μm). Despite the development of various radiative cooling techniques such as photonic crystals and metamaterials, applying the cooling technology in practical applications remains challenging due to its low flexibility and complicated manufacturing processes. Here, we develop a high-performance radiative cooling film using PDMS/TiO2 microparticles. Specifically, the design parameters such as microparticle diameter, microparticle volume fraction, and film thickness are considered through optical analysis. Additionally, we propose a novel fabrication process using low viscosity silicone oil for practical fabrication. The fabricated film accomplishes 67.1 W/m2 of cooling power, and we also analyze the cooling performance difference depending on the fabrication process based on the measurement and optical calculation results.

Cooling Performance Prediction of Particle-Based Radiative Cooling Film Considering Particle Size Distribution

“…Figure 1 d shows the mechanism of PBRC, as well as the equation for the net cooling power. Note that the net cooling power ( ) is the sum of the thermal radiation to space ( ), the absorbed energy from the Sun ( ) and atmosphere ( ), and the transferred energy through conduction and convection ( ) [ 29 ].…”