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Bright-white hydrogels for on-demand passive cooling

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Abstract

Passive cooling permits thermal management of near-zero energy consumption and low CO2 emissions. Despite significant progress of passive radiative coolers, comfortable and steady temperatures can hardly be achieved due to their inadequate daytime cooling power (below 0.2 kW m−2) yet over-cooling at night. Here, we provide a bright-white hydrogel that enables on-demand passive cooling by virtue of adaptive water evaporation and high solar reflectance up to 86.1%. Notably, theoretical cooling power determined by the evaporating rate can reach 1.25 kW m −2 in daytime but decreases dramatically at night. Hence sub-ambient temperature reduction of 11–13 °C at noon yet nearly none at night are realized, with the diurnal temperature difference narrowed significantly. Moreover, effective cooling using colored hydrogels, and transition from evaporative cooling to solar heating have been demonstrated. This novel evaporative cooling approach will pave the way for smart passive coolers of high efficiency, colorful appearance, and low cost.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51733008, 51522308).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China

    Meng Yang, Weizhi Zou, Heng Luo, Yong Liu & Ning Zhao

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Meng Yang, Weizhi Zou, Heng Luo, Yong Liu & Ning Zhao

  3. College of Chemistry and Environmental Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, 518061, China

    Jian Xu

Authors
  1. Meng Yang
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  2. Weizhi Zou
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  3. Heng Luo
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  4. Yong Liu
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  5. Ning Zhao
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  6. Jian Xu
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Correspondence to Ning Zhao.

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The supporting information is available online at http://chem.scichina.com and http://link.springer.com/journal/11426. The supporting materials are published as submitted, without typesetting or editing. The responsibility for scientific accuracy and content remains entirely with the authors.

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Yang, M., Zou, W., Luo, H. et al. Bright-white hydrogels for on-demand passive cooling. Sci. China Chem. 66, 1511–1519 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11426-023-1548-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11426-023-1548-0

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