Researchers from the university of Boulder engineers have developed a scalable manufactured metamaterial that has the capability to act as natural air conditioning for structures has the ability to cool structures even under direct sunlight with zero energy and water consumption.
"We feel that this low-cost manufacturing process will be transformative for real-world applications of this radiative cooling technology,” said researcher Xiaobo Yin, an assistant professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
How is the metamaterial prepared?
Researchers fixed visibly-scattering but infrared-radiant glass microspheres into a polymer film.They then added a silver coating below to achieve maximum spectral reflectance.
How does the metamaterial function?
The material uses passive radiative cooling wherein the objects naturally shed heat in the form of infrared radiation without using energy. It is a glass polymer hybrid material and 50 micrometers thick and can be manufactured into rolls where it can be used for residential and commercial applications.
The material is eco-friendly and can be used for cooling of thermoelectric power plants which use water and electricity to maintain operating temperatures of the machinery. When the material is applied to any surface it cools the objects underneath by facilitating the objects to shed the incoming solar radiation and also at the same time allows the surface to lose its own heat in the form of infrared thermal radiation.
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Potential Applications
-The material can be used for cooling of residential buildings and power plants
-It can also be used to extend the life of solar panels. In direct sunlight, panels can sometimes overheat to temperatures at which it hampers their ability to convert sun rays into power.
-By applying the material to panels, it can cool them and recover additional one to two percent solar efficiency.
-Another advantage is it works without the use of electricity or water.
"Just 10 to 20 square meters of this material on the rooftop could nicely cool down a single-family house in summer," said Gang Tan, an associate professor at the University of Wyoming's Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering and a co-author of the paper.
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