Scalable Production of Radiative Cooling Paint for Thermal Management

该基金支持的研究将为辐射冷却涂料的大规模生产提供新知识，促进科学进步，促进国家繁荣和可持续发展。辐射冷却是一种通过充分反射阳光并有效地向寒冷的天空发射热量来提供无电冷却的策略：不使用任何电力就可以实现净冷却效果。它有可能减少建筑物和车辆空调的用电量和二氧化碳排放量。传统的制造辐射冷却涂层的方法需要复杂和高成本的薄膜沉积工艺，这阻碍了大规模应用。该奖项支持基础研究，为生产辐射冷却多孔聚合物涂料的室温解决方案技术的发展提供所需的知识。新工艺将实现快速、大规模、低成本的聚合物辐射冷却涂料制造，而无需使用有机溶剂。这种涂料将在建筑、汽车、食品、化学和制药行业有潜在的应用，这将有利于美国的经济和社会。这项研究涉及多个学科，包括制造、光学、聚合物科学和材料科学。多学科方法将有助于扩大代表性不足的群体在研究中的参与，并对工程教育产生积极影响。辐射冷却可以减轻现有冷却技术的若干缺点，例如耗电量大、消耗臭氧和使用温室气体。研究小组将进行基础研究，以弥合辐射冷却的科学概念与高性能和低成本冷却涂层的可扩展制造之间的知识差距。具体来说，该团队将：1)进行全波模拟，以了解太阳和热辐射与多孔聚合物材料之间的相互作用；2)开发可扩展的基于溶液的制造方法，生产多孔聚合物辐射冷却中性色和彩色涂料，了解各种参数（如溶液浓度、蒸汽压和温度）对多孔涂料形貌和性能的影响；3)进行现场测试，量化涂料在各种环境和气象条件下的辐射冷却能力。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This grant supports research that will contribute new knowledge related to large-scale manufacturing of radiative cooling paints, promoting both the progress of science and advancing national prosperity and sustainability. Radiative cooling is a strategy to provide electricity-free cooling by fully reflecting sunlight and effectively emitting heat to the cold sky: a net cooling effect can be realized without using any electricity. It has the potential to reduce electricity consumption and CO2 generation for air conditioning in buildings and vehicles. Conventional approaches for manufacturing radiative cooling coatings demand complex and high-cost thin-film deposition processes, which hinder large-scale applications. This award supports fundamental research to provide needed knowledge for the development of a room temperature solution-based technique to produce radiative cooling porous polymer paints. The new process will enable fast, large-scale, and low-cost manufacturing of polymeric radiative cooling paints without using organic solvents. The paints will have potential applications in building, automotive, food, chemical, and pharmaceutical industries, which benefits the US economy and society. This research involves several disciplines including manufacturing, optics, polymer science, and material science. The multi-disciplinary approach will help broaden participation of underrepresented groups in research and positively impact engineering education.Radiative cooling can alleviate several disadvantages in existing cooling techniques, such as high consumption of electricity, and usage of ozone-depleting and greenhouse gases. The research team will conduct fundamental studies to bridge the knowledge gap between scientific concept of radiative cooling and scalable manufacturing of high-performance and low-cost cooling coatings. Specifically, the team will: 1) conduct full-wave simulations to understand the interactions between solar and thermal radiations and porous polymeric materials; 2) develop scalable solution-based manufacturing methods to produce porous polymer radiative cooling neutral-colored and colorful paints, understanding effects of various parameters, such as solution concentration, vapor pressure, and temperature, on the morphology and performance of the porous paints; and 3) conduct field tests to quantify the radiative cooling capabilities of the paints under various environmental and meteorological conditions.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.