2022: Passive Cooling Textile With Heterogeneous Infrared Transmittance Performance
To keep surfaces cool and reduce energy requirements for cooling, two passive radiative-cooling approaches include reducing the transmittance (T) of energy from incoming sunlight and increasing the T of outgoing energy via thermal radiation (from building/surface). Both phenomena can be achieved by optimizing surface microstructures. This project will create a textile incorporating heterostructures at micro and nano scales to control T in the Infrared spectrum, corresponding to more than half the energy of solar and thermal radiations. Micron diameter fibers with included submicron particles and voids will be produced, characterized and tested using spectroscopy, solar heating and radiative cooling experiments. This textile could be incorporated as a very thin layer onto exterior surfaces, windows, or clothing.
Investigators: Margaret Frey, Human Centered Design; Yong Joo, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering; Huiju Park, Human Centered Design