Highly-Scattering Cellulose-Based Films for Radiative Cooling.
Authors
Yang, Han
Schertel, Lukas
Whitworth, Guy L
Garcia, Pedro D
Vignolini, Silvia
Publication Date
2022-03Journal Title
Adv Sci (Weinh)
ISSN
2198-3844
Publisher
Wiley
Language
en
Type
Article
This Version
AO
VoR
Metadata
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Jaramillo-Fernandez, J., Yang, H., Schertel, L., Whitworth, G. L., Garcia, P. D., Vignolini, S., & Sotomayor-Torres, C. M. (2022). Highly-Scattering Cellulose-Based Films for Radiative Cooling.. Adv Sci (Weinh) https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202104758
Abstract
Passive radiative cooling (RC) enables the cooling of objects below ambient temperature during daytime without consuming energy, promising to be a game changer in terms of energy savings and CO2 reduction. However, so far most RC surfaces are obtained by energy-intensive nanofabrication processes or make use of unsustainable materials. These limitations are overcome by developing cellulose films with unprecedentedly low absorption of solar irradiance and strong mid-infrared (mid-IR) emittance. In particular, a cellulose-derivative (cellulose acetate) is exploited to produce porous scattering films of two different thicknesses, L ≈ 30 µm (thin) and L ≈ 300 µm (thick), making them adaptable to above and below-ambient cooling applications. The thin and thick films absorb only ≈ 5 % ${\approx}5\%$ of the solar irradiance, which represents a net cooling power gain of at least 17 W m-2 , compared to state-of-the-art cellulose-based radiative-cooling materials. Field tests show that the films can reach up to ≈5 °C below ambient temperature, when solar absorption and conductive/convective losses are minimized. Under dryer conditions (water column = 1 mm), it is estimated that the films can reach average minimum temperatures of ≈7-8 °C below the ambient. The work presents an alternative cellulose-based material for efficient radiative cooling that is simple to fabricate, cost-efficient and avoids the use of polluting materials.
Keywords
Research Article, Research Articles, cellulose, high mid‐infrared emittance, low solar absorption, radiative cooling, scattering
Sponsorship
This work was supported by the BBSRC David Phillips
fellowship [BB/K014617/1] and the Horizon 2020
Framework Programme Marie Curie Individual Fellow-
ships (793643-MFCPF), ERC SeSaME ERC2014STG
H2020 639088, the PoC 963872, Cellunan, and the
Isaac Newton Trust (SNSF3) and the Philip Lever-
hulme Prize (PLP-2019-271).
The European Unions Horizon 2020 Research and
Innovation Program partly funded this research (Marie
Sklodoswa-Curie Actions Grant No. 665919 that sup-
ported J.J.F and the project FLEXPOL Grant. No.
721062 that supported G.L.W). Moreover, the research
received funds from the Spanish Minister of Science,
Innovation and Universities via the Severo Ochoa Pro-
gram (Grant No. SEV-2017-0706) that supports ICN2,
and the projects PGC2018-101743-B-I00 (SIP) and
RTI2018-093921-A-C44 (SMOOTH), as well as by the
CERCA Program/Generalitat de Catalunya. L.S. ac-
knowledges the support of the Swiss National Sci-
ence Foundation under project 40B1-0 198708. P.D.G
gratefully acknowledges the support the Ramon y Ca-
jal fellowship (RYC-2015-18124).
Funder references
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BB/K014617/1)
European Research Council (639088)
European Commission Horizon 2020 (H2020) Marie Sk?odowska-Curie actions (793643)
Isaac Newton Trust (SNSF3)
Leverhulme Trust (PLP-2019-271)
European Commission Horizon 2020 (H2020) ERC (963872)
Identifiers
advs3346
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202104758
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/333143
Rights
Licence:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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