Superhydrophobic and Recyclable Cellulose-Fiber-Based Composites for High-Efficiency Passive Radiative Cooling

Yanpei Tian, Hong Shao, Xiaojie Liu, Fangqi Chen, Yongsheng Li, Changyu Tang, Yi Zheng

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

122 Scopus citations

Abstract

Passive daytime radiative cooling (PDRC) involves cooling down an object by simultaneously reflecting sunlight and thermally radiating heat to the cold outer space through the Earth's atmospheric window. However, for practical applications, current PDRC materials are facing unprecedented challenges such as complicated and expensive fabrication approaches and performance degradation arising from surface contamination. Herein, we develop scalable cellulose-fiber-based composites with excellent self-cleaning and self-cooling capabilities, through air-spraying ethanolic poly(tetrafluoroethylene) (PTFE) microparticle suspensions embedded partially within the microsized pores of the cellulose fiber to form a dual-layered structure with PTFE particles atop the paper. The formed superhydrophobic PTFE coating not only protects the cellulose-fiber-based paper from water wetting and dust contamination for real-life applications but also reinforces its solar reflectivity by sunlight backscattering. It results in a subambient cooling performance of 5 °C under a solar irradiance of 834 W/m2 and a radiative cooling power of 104 W/m2 under a solar intensity of 671 W/m2. The self-cleaning surface of composites maintains their good cooling performance for outdoor applications, and the recyclability of the composites extends their life span after one life cycle. Additionally, dyed cellulose-fiber-based paper can absorb appropriate visible wavelengths to display specific colors and effectively reflect near-infrared lights to reduce solar heating, which synchronously achieves effective radiative cooling and esthetic varieties.
Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)22521-22530
Number of pages10
JournalACS Applied Materials and Interfaces
Volume13
Issue number19
DOIs
StatePublished - May 19 2021
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Generated from Scopus record by KAUST IRTS on 2023-09-23

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Materials Science

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