Highly suppressed solar absorption in a daytime radiative cooler designed by genetic algorithm

Here, we report a selective multilayer emitter for eco-friendly daytime passive radiative cooling. The types of materials and thickness of up to 10 layers of the multilayer structure are optimized by a genetic algorithm. The passive radiative cooler is designed to mainly target low solar absorption, which allows sub-ambient cooling under direct sunlight. We used a custom objective function in the solar region to achieve high-performance daytime radiative cooling to minimize solar absorption. The designed structure minimizes solar absorption with an average absorptivity of 5.0% in the solar region (0.3–2.5 μm) while strongly emitting thermal radiation with an average emissivity of 86.0% in the atmospheric transparency window (8–13 μm). The designed and fabricated structure achieves daytime net cooling flux of 84.8 W m−2 and 70.6 W m−2, respectively, under the direct AM 1.5 solar irradiation (SI) (total heat flux of 892 W m−2 in the 0.3–2.5 μm wavelength region). Finally, we experimentally demonstrate a passive radiative cooling of the fabricated selective emitter through a 72-hour day-night cycle, showing an average and maximum temperature reduction of 3.1 °C and 6.0 °C, respectively. Our approach provides additional degrees of freedom by designing both materials and thickness and thereby is expected to allow high-performance daytime radiative cooling.

Nanostructures for Achieving Selective Properties of a Thermophotovoltaic Emitter

This paper focuses on the research and development of a suitable method for creating a selective emitter for the visible and near-infrared region to be able to work optimally together with silicon photovoltaic cells in a thermophotovoltaic system. The aim was to develop a new method to create very fine structures beyond the conventional standard (nanostructures), which will increase the emissivity of the base material for it to match the needs of a selective emitter for the VIS and NIR region. Available methods were used to create the nanostructures, from which we eliminated all unsuitable methods; for the selected method, we established the optimal procedure and parameters for their creation. The development of the emitter nanostructures included the necessary substrate pretreatments, where great emphasis was placed on material purity and surface roughness. Tungsten was purposely chosen as the main material for the formation of the nanostructures; we verified the effect of the formed structure on the resulting emissivity. This work presents a new method for the formation of nanostructures, which are not commonly formed in such fineness; by this, it opens the way to new possibilities for achieving the desired selectivity of the thermophotovoltaic emitter.