skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Passive directional sub-ambient daytime radiative cooling

Journal Article · · Nature Communications

Demonstrations of passive daytime radiative cooling have primarily relied on complex and costly spectrally selective nanophotonic structures with high emissivity in the transparent atmospheric spectral window and high reflectivity in the solar spectrum. Here, we show a directional approach to passive radiative cooling that exploits the angular confinement of solar irradiation in the sky to achieve sub-ambient cooling during the day regardless of the emitter properties in the solar spectrum. We experimentally demonstrate this approach using a setup comprising a polished aluminum disk that reflects direct solar irradiation and a white infrared-transparent polyethylene convection cover that minimizes diffuse solar irradiation. Measurements performed around solar noon show a minimum temperature of 6 °C below ambient temperature and maximum cooling power of 45 W m–2. Our passive cooling approach, realized using commonly available low-cost materials, could improve the performance of existing cooling systems and enable next-generation thermal management and refrigeration solutions.

Research Organization:
Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Solid-State Solar-Thermal Energy Conversion Center (S3TEC); Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0001299
OSTI ID:
1566605
Journal Information:
Nature Communications, Vol. 9, Issue 1; ISSN 2041-1723
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 163 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (41)

Radiative sky cooling: fundamental physics, materials, structures, and applications journal July 2017
A review of clear sky radiative cooling developments and applications in renewable power systems and passive building cooling journal May 2018
Radiative Cooling: Principles, Progress, and Potentials journal February 2016
Radiative cooling efficiency of white pigmented paints journal June 1993
Optimized cool roofs: Integrating albedo and thermal emittance with R-value journal December 2011
3D printable optical structures for sub-ambient sky cooling conference September 2017
Review of solar and low energy cooling technologies for buildings journal December 2002
Metamaterial broadband angular selectivity journal September 2014
A solar reflecting material for radiative cooling applications: ZnS pigmented polyethylene journal November 1992
Passive radiative cooling below ambient air temperature under direct sunlight journal November 2014
Passive cooling of water at night in uninsulated open tank in hot arid areas journal January 2007
A New Shadow-Ring Device for Measuring Diffuse Solar Radiation at the Surface journal May 2002
Double-layer nanoparticle-based coatings for efficient terrestrial radiative cooling journal August 2017
Solar Engineering of Thermal Processes book April 2013
Nanoparticle embedded double-layer coating for daytime radiative cooling journal January 2017
Light selective structures for large scale natural air conditioning journal January 1980
Angular distribution of clear sky short wavelength radiance journal January 1988
Solar refrigeration options – a state-of-the-art review journal January 2008
Broadband angular selectivity of light at the nanoscale: Progress, applications, and outlook journal February 2016
Scalable-manufactured randomized glass-polymer hybrid metamaterial for daytime radiative cooling journal February 2017
Review of passive solar heating and cooling technologies journal February 2010
Effective Radiative Cooling by Paint-Format Microsphere-Based Photonic Random Media journal January 2018
Radiative cooling: Energy savings from the sky journal September 2017
Sub-ambient non-evaporative fluid cooling with the sky journal September 2017
Thermal performance of radiative cooling panels journal June 1983
Radiative human body cooling by nanoporous polyethylene textile journal September 2016
A Comprehensive Photonic Approach for Solar Cell Cooling journal March 2017
Radiative cooling with MgO and/or LiF layers journal January 1984
Radiative cooling to low temperatures: General considerations and application to selectively emitting SiO films journal June 1981
Ultrabroadband Photonic Structures To Achieve High-Performance Daytime Radiative Cooling journal March 2013
Radiative cooling of solar cells journal January 2014
Angle-Selective Reflective Filters for Exclusion of Background Thermal Emission journal April 2017
Daytime Radiative Cooling Using Near-Black Infrared Emitters journal February 2017
Radiative cooling during the day: simulations and experiments on pigmented polyethylene cover foils journal April 1995
Amplified radiative cooling via optimised combinations of aperture geometry and spectral emittance profiles of surfaces and the atmosphere journal September 2009
Optical Broadband Angular Selectivity journal March 2014
Nocturnal and diurnal performances of selective radiators journal October 1977
Radiative cooling to deep sub-freezing temperatures through a 24-h day–night cycle journal December 2016
Solar Engineering of Thermal Processes journal April 1985
Evacuated-tube directional-radiating cooling system journal January 1985
Solar-reflecting material for radiative cooling applications: ZnS pigmented polyethylene
  • Nilsson, Torbjorn M.; Niklasson, Gunnar A.; Granqvist, Claes-Goeran
  • Optical Materials Technology for Energy Efficiency and Solar Energy https://doi.org/10.1117/12.130498
conference November 1992

Cited By (8)

Reversible Water Transportation Diode: Temperature‐Adaptive Smart Janus Textile for Moisture/Thermal Management journal December 2019
A polydimethylsiloxane-coated metal structure for all-day radiative cooling journal August 2019
Radiative sky cooling: Fundamental principles, materials, and applications journal June 2019
Plasmonic absorption-induced haze suppression in random scattering media journal June 2019
Accelerating the discovery of multilayer nanostructures with analytic differentiation of the transfer matrix equations journal January 2020
High-performance subambient radiative cooling enabled by optically selective and thermally insulating polyethylene aerogel journal October 2019
An ode to polyethylene journal January 2019
Multistage and passive cooling process driven by salinity difference journal March 2020