Development of spectrally self-switchable cover with phase change material for dynamic radiative cooling

Publication Name

Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells

Abstract

Radiative cooling promises an effective strategy against global warming by sending waste heat to the deep universe in a passive manner. However, the mismatch between cooling supply and demand can significantly compromise the efficacy of spectrally-static radiative cooling devices in cold weather. Therefore, the present work introduced paraffin wax as the phase change material (PCM) to develop a spectrally self-switchable cover (SSC) for flexible radiative cooling. The transmittance of the paraffin wax at different temperatures, thicknesses and phases was characterized. In the UV-VIS-NIR band, the transmittance of the paraffin wax was over 90% in the liquid phase but below 5% in the solid phase. In the “atmospheric window” band, the transmission of the paraffin wax in the liquid phase was also much higher than that in the solid phase with a maximum difference of 41.1%. The optical constants of various paraffin waxes in solid and liquid phases were calculated according to the two-thickness inversion method. The average error of transmittance between the calculated and measured values was only 1.8% and 4% for the 0.19–1.1 μm and 8–13 μm bands, respectively. Moreover, the microstructure analysis of the solid-state paraffin wax revealed that the size of paraffin grains was around 10 μm with interlocking and irregular grain boundaries. The integrated multilayered-like structure resulted in a significant transmittance reduction of the solid-state paraffin wax. In the end, self-switchable PE-PCM-PE (polyethylene-phase change material-polyethylene) covers were prepared and spectrally characterized. The paraffin-based cover provided a new and low-cost candidate solution for achieving dynamic radiative cooling.

Open Access Status

This publication is not available as open access

Volume

251

Article Number

112125

Funding Number

2021GXRC083

Funding Sponsor

Taishan Scholar Foundation of Shandong Province

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Link to publisher version (DOI)

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2022.112125