A dual-selective thermal emitter with enhanced subambient radiative cooling performance
Xueke Wu, Jinlei Li, Fei Xie, Xun‐En Wu, Siming Zhao, Qinyuan Jiang, Shiliang Zhang, Baoshun Wang, Yunrui Li, Di Gao, Run Li, Fei Wang, Ya Huang, Yanlong Zhao, Yingying Zhang, Wei Li, Jia Zhu, Rufan Zhang
Abstract
Radiative cooling is a zero-energy technology that enables subambient cooling by emitting heat into outer space (~3 K) through the atmospheric transparent windows. However, existing designs typically focus only on the main atmospheric transparent window (8-13 μm) and ignore another window (16-25 μm), under-exploiting their cooling potential. Here, we show a dual-selective radiative cooling design based on a scalable thermal emitter, which exhibits selective emission in both atmospheric transparent windows and reflection in the remaining mid-infrared and solar wavebands. As a result, the dual-selective thermal emitter exhibits an ultrahigh subambient cooling capacity (~9 °C) under strong sunlight, surpassing existing typical thermal emitters (≥3 °C cooler) and commercial counterparts (as building materials). Furthermore, the dual-selective sample also exhibits high weather resistance and color compatibility, indicating a high practicality. This work provides a scalable and practical radiative cooling design for sustainable thermal management.