Self-cleaning and self-cooling paper

TL;DR

This paper introduces a scalable, self-cleaning paper-based material that passively cools objects by reflecting sunlight and radiating heat, with enhanced durability and aesthetic options for practical outdoor applications.

Contribution

It develops a novel, scalable, and cost-effective paper-based radiative cooling material with superhydrophobic PTFE coating for self-cleaning and improved performance.

Findings

Achieves sub-ambient cooling of 5°C under sunlight.

Demonstrates radiative cooling power of 104 W/m².

Maintains performance with self-cleaning surface and dyed variants.

Abstract

The technique of passive daytime radiative cooling (PDRC) is used to cool an object down 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. Here, we develop a scalable paper-based material with excellent self-cleaning and self-cooling capabilities, through air-spraying ethanolic polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) microparticles suspensions embedded within the micropores of the paper. The formed superhydrophobic PTFE coating not only protects the paper from water wetting and dust contamination for real-life applications but also reinforces its solar reflectance by sunlight backscattering. The paper fibers, when enhanced with PTFE particles, efficiently reflect sunlight and strongly radiate heat through the atmospheric window, resulting in a sub-ambient cooling performance of 5$^{\circ}$C and radiative cooling power of 104 W/m$^2$ under direct solar irradiance of 834 W/m$^2$ and 671 W/m$^2$, respectively. The self-cleaning surface of the cooling paper extends its lifespan and keep its good cooling performance for outdoor applications. Additionally, dyed papers are experimentally studied for broad engineering applications. They 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 aesthetic varieties in a cost-effective, scalable, and energy-efficient way.