Abstract
Passive radiative cooling, drawing heat energy of objects to the cold outer space through the atmospheric transparent window, is significant for reducing the energy consumption of buildings. Daytime and nighttime radiative cooling have been extensively investigated in the past. However, radiative cooling which can continuously regulate its cooling temperature, like a valve, according to human need is rarely reported. In this study, we propose a reconfigurable photonic structure, based on the effective medium theory and semi-analytical calculations, for the adaptive radiative cooling by continuous variation of the emission spectra in the atmospheric window. This is realized by the deformation of a one-dimensional polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) grating and nanoparticle-embedded PDMS thin film when subjected to mechanical stress/strain. The proposed structure reaches different stagnation temperatures under certain strains. A dynamic tuning in emissivity under different strains results in a continuously variable “ON”/“OFF” mode in a particular atmospheric window that corresponds to the deformation-induced fluctuation of the operating temperatures of the reconfigurable nanophotonic structure.
Highlights
Passive radiative cooling, drawing heat energy of objects to the cold outer space through the atmospheric transparent window, is significant for reducing the energy consumption of buildings
The reconfigurable structure consists of a PDMS layer embedded with multi-species of nanoparticles on top of the one-dimensional PDMS grating coated by a silver thin film (Fig. 1a)
The emissivity spectra in the atmospheric window of this structure are continuously tunable by the mechanical deformation of the top PDMS thin film and PDMS grating periods to stabilize at a certain temperature when subjected to a mechanical strain (Fig. 1b)
Summary
Passive radiative cooling, drawing heat energy of objects to the cold outer space through the atmospheric transparent window, is significant for reducing the energy consumption of buildings. We propose a reconfigurable photonic structure, based on the effective medium theory and semi-analytical calculations, for the adaptive radiative cooling by continuous variation of the emission spectra in the atmospheric window This is realized by the deformation of a one-dimensional polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) grating and nanoparticle-embedded PDMS thin film when subjected to mechanical stress/strain. Other materials like nanophotonic structures[9,10], infrared transparent aerogel[11], and polymer nanofiber[12] provide various alternatives for daytime radiative cooling These materials pave the way for applications of radiative cooling to energy-saving buildings, energy harvesting, and temperature regulation without energy consumption and achieving sustainable cooling throughout the day. The elastic material based nanophotonic structure sheds light on the dynamic regulations of thermal emission
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