Green-Manufactured and Recyclable Coatings for Subambient Daytime Radiative Cooling

Abstract

Passive daytime radiative cooling, which reflects sunlight and simultaneously emits heat into space to cool surfaces without energy input, is a promising strategy for energy conservation. Integrating radiative cooling with building systems can tremendously alleviate electrical cooling, but manufacturing high-efficient and eco-friendly coatings remains an urgent and challenging task. Here, we present a simple and scale-up strategy for fabricating ultrawhite coatings consisting of porous ethyl cellulose matrix-random BaSO₄ nanoparticles utilizing green solvents. With the synergistic effect of the ideal intrinsic properties of the materials and the strong Mie scattering of the porous structure, the ultrawhite coating possesses a record solar reflectance of 98.6% and a thermal emittance of 98.1%, resulting in a subambient temperature drop of over 2.5 °C under a solar intensity of ∼920 W m^-2. Better yet, our coatings can be conveniently brushed, rolled, or sprayed onto various types of substrates, with excellent durability, self-cleaning, and cost-effectiveness, paving an attractive and viable pathway for large-scale applications in practical buildings.