Low-energy-consumption temperature swing system for CO_(2) capture by combining passive radiative cooling and solar heating

Temperature-swing adsorption(TSA)is an effective technique for CO_(2) capture,but the temperature swing procedure is energy-intensive.Herein,we report a low-energy-consumption system by combining passive radiative cooling and solar heating for the uptake of CO_(2) on commercial activated carbons(CACs).During adsorption,the adsorbents are coated with a layer of hierarchically porous poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropene)[P(VdF-HFP)HP],which cools the adsorbents to a low temperature under sunlight through radiative cooling.For desorption,CACs with broad absorption of the solar spectrum are exposed to light irradiation for heating.The heating and cooling processes are completely driven by solar energy.Adsorption tests under mimicked sunlight using the CACs show that the performance of this system is comparable to that of the traditional ones.Furthermore,under real sunlight irradiation,the adsorption capacity of the CACs can be well maintained after multiple cycles.The present work may inspire the development of new temperature swing procedures with little energy consumption.

Self-consistent and precise measurement of time-dependent radiative albedo of gold based on specially symmetrical triple-cavity Hohlraum

A self-consistent and precise method to determine the time-dependent radiative albedo,i.e.,the ratio of the reemission flux to the incident flux,for an indirect-drive inertial confinement fusion Hohlraum wall material is proposed.A specially designed symmetrical triple-cavity gold Hohlraum is used to create approximately constant and near-equilibrium uniform radiation with a peak temperature of 160 eV.The incident flux at the secondary cavity waist is obtained from flux balance analysis and from the shock velocity of a standard sample.The results agree well owing to the symmetrical radiation in the secondary cavity.A self-consistent and precise time-dependent radiative albedo is deduced from the reliable reemission flux and the incident flux,and the result from the shock velocity is found to have a smaller uncertainty than that from the multi-angle flux balance analysis,and also to agree well with the result of a simulation using the HYADES opacity.

Ultrahigh performance passive radiative cooling by hybrid polar dielectric metasurface thermal emitters

Real-world passive radiative cooling requires highly emissive,selective,and omnidirectional thermal emitters to maintain the radiative cooler at a certain temperature below the ambient temperature while maximizing the net cooling power.Despite various selective thermal emitters have been demonstrated,it is still challenging to achieve these conditions sim-ultaneously because of the extreme difficulty in controlling thermal emission of photonic structures in multidimension.Here we demonstrated hybrid polar dielectric metasurface thermal emitters with machine learning inverse design,en-abling a high emissivity of~0.92 within the atmospheric transparency window 8-13μm,a large spectral selectivity of~1.8 and a wide emission angle up to 80 degrees,simultaneously.This selective and omnidirectional thermal emitter has led to a new record of temperature reduction as large as~15.4°C under strong solar irradiation of~800 W/m2,signific-antly surpassing the state-of-the-art results.The designed structures also show great potential in tackling the urban heat island effect,with modelling results suggesting a large energy saving and deployment area reduction.This research will make significant impact on passive radiative cooling,thermal energy photonics and tackling global climate change.

Thin paints for durable and scalable radiative cooling

Passive daytime radiative cooling(PDRC) is environment-friendly without energy input by enhancing the coating's solar reflectance(R_(solar)) and thermal emittance(ε_(LWIR)) in the atmosphere's long-wave infrared transmission window.However,high R_(solar) is usually achieved by increasing the coating's thickness,which not only increases materials' cost but also impairs heat transfer.Additionally,the desired high R_(solar) is vulnerable to dust pollution in the outdoors.In this work,a thin paint was designed by mixing hBN plates,PFOTS,and IPA. R_(solar)=0.963 and ε_(LWIR)=0.927 was achieved at a thickness of 150 μm due to the high backscattering ability of scatters.A high through-plane thermal conductivity(~1.82 W m^(-1) K^(-1)) also can be obtained.In addition,the porous structure coupled with the binder PFOTS resulted in a contact angle of 154°,demonstrating excellent durability under dust contamination.Outdoor experiments showed that the thin paint can obtain a 2.3℃ lower temperature for sub-ambient cooling than the reference PDRC coating in the daytime.Furtherly,the above-ambient heat dissipation performance can be enhanced by spraying the thin paint on a 3D heat sink,which was 15.7℃ lower than the reference 1D structure,demonstrating excellent performance for durable and scalable PDRC applications.

Influence of substrate effect on near-field radiative modulator based on biaxial hyperbolic materials

Relative rotation between the emitter and receiver could effectively modulate the near-field radiative heat transfer(NFRHT)in anisotropic media.Due to the strong in-plane anisotropy,natural hyperbolic materials can be used to construct near-field radiative modulators with excellent modulation effects.However,in practical applications,natural hyperbolic materials need to be deposited on the substrate,and the influence of substrate on modulation effect has not been studied yet.In this work,we investigate the influence of substrate effect on near-field radiative modulator based onα-MoO_(3).The results show that compared to the situation without a substrate,the presence of both lossless and lossy substrate will reduce the modulation contrast(MC)for different film thicknesses.When the real or imaginary component of the substrate permittivity increases,the mismatch of hyperbolic phonon polaritons(HPPs)weakens,resulting in a reduction in MC.By reducing the real and imaginary components of substrate permittivity,the MC can be significantly improved,reaching 4.64 forε_(s)=3 at t=10 nm.This work indicates that choosing a substrate with a smaller permittivity helps to achieve a better modulation effect,and provides guidance for the application of natural hyperbolic materials in the near-field radiative modulator.

Personal Thermal Management by Radiative Cooling and Heating

Maintaining thermal comfort within the human body is crucial for optimal health and overall well-being.By merely broadening the setpoint of indoor temperatures,we could significantly slash energy usage in building heating,ventilation,and air-conditioning systems.In recent years,there has been a surge in advancements in personal thermal management(PTM),aiming to regulate heat and moisture transfer within our immediate surroundings,clothing,and skin.The advent of PTM is driven by the rapid development in nano/micro-materials and energy science and engineering.An emerging research area in PTM is personal radiative thermal management(PRTM),which demonstrates immense potential with its high radiative heat transfer efficiency and ease of regulation.However,it is less taken into account in traditional textiles,and there currently lies a gap in our knowledge and understanding of PRTM.In this review,we aim to present a thorough analysis of advanced textile materials and technologies for PRTM.Specifically,we will introduce and discuss the underlying radiation heat transfer mechanisms,fabrication methods of textiles,and various indoor/outdoor applications in light of their different regulation functionalities,including radiative cooling,radiative heating,and dual-mode thermoregulation.Furthermore,we will shine a light on the current hurdles,propose potential strategies,and delve into future technology trends for PRTM with an emphasis on functionalities and applications.

Near-field radiative heat transfer between nanoporous GaN films

Photon tunneling effects give rise to surface waves,amplifying radiative heat transfer in the near-field regime.Recent research has highlighted that the introduction of nanopores into materials creates additional pathways for heat transfer,leading to a substantial enhancement of near-field radiative heat transfer(NFRHT).Being a direct bandgap semiconductor,GaN has high thermal conductivity and stable resistance at high temperatures,and holds significant potential for applications in optoelectronic devices.Indeed,study of NFRHT between nanoporous GaN films is currently lacking,hence the physical mechanism for adding nanopores to GaN films remains to be discussed in the field of NFRHT.In this work,we delve into the NFRHT of GaN nanoporous films in terms of gap distance,GaN film thickness and the vacuum filling ratio.The results demonstrate a 27.2%increase in heat flux for a 10 nm gap when the nanoporous filling ratio is 0.5.Moreover,the spectral heat flux exhibits redshift with increase in the vacuum filling ratio.To be more precise,the peak of spectral heat flux moves fromω=1.31×10^(14)rad·s^(-1)toω=1.23×10^(14)rad·s^(-1)when the vacuum filling ratio changes from f=0.1 to f=0.5;this can be attributed to the excitation of surface phonon polaritons.The introduction of graphene into these configurations can highly enhance the NFRHT,and the spectral heat flux exhibits a blueshift with increase in the vacuum filling ratio,which can be explained by the excitation of surface plasmon polaritons.These findings offer theoretical insights that can guide the extensive utilization of porous structures in thermal control,management and thermal modulation.

Two-Stream Approximation to the Radiative Transfer Equation:A New Improvement and Comparative Accuracy with Existing Methods

Mathematical modeling of the interaction between solar radiation and the Earth's atmosphere is formalized by the radiative transfer equation(RTE), whose resolution calls for two-stream approximations among other methods. This paper proposes a new two-stream approximation of the RTE with the development of the phase function and the intensity into a third-order series of Legendre polynomials. This new approach, which adds one more term in the expression of the intensity and the phase function, allows in the conditions of a plane parallel atmosphere a new mathematical formulation of γparameters. It is then compared to the Eddington, Hemispheric Constant, Quadrature, Combined Delta Function and Modified Eddington, and second-order approximation methods with reference to the Discrete Ordinate(Disort) method(δ –128 streams), considered as the most precise. This work also determines the conversion function of the proposed New Method using the fundamental definition of two-stream approximation(F-TSA) developed in a previous work. Notably,New Method has generally better precision compared to the second-order approximation and Hemispheric Constant methods. Compared to the Quadrature and Eddington methods, New Method shows very good precision for wide domains of the zenith angle μ 0, but tends to deviate from the Disort method with the zenith angle, especially for high values of optical thickness. In spite of this divergence in reflectance for high values of optical thickness, very strong correlation with the Disort method(R ≈ 1) was obtained for most cases of optical thickness in this study. An analysis of the Legendre polynomial series for simple functions shows that the high precision is due to the fact that the approximated functions ameliorate the accuracy when the order of approximation increases, although it has been proven that there is a limit order depending on the function from which the precision is lost. This observation indicates that increasing the order of approximation of the phase function of the RTE leads to a better precision in flux calculations. However, this approach may be limited to a certain order that has not been studied in this paper.

Superelastic Radiative Cooling Metafabric for Comfortable Epidermal Electrophysiological Monitoring

Epidermal electronics with superb passive-cooling capabilities are of great value for both daytime outdoor dressing comfort and low-carbon economy. Herein, a multifunctional and skinattachable electronic is rationally developed on a porous all-elastomer metafabric for efficient passive daytime radiative cooling(PDRC) and human electrophysiological monitoring. The cooling characteristics are realized through the homogeneous impregnation of polytetrafluoroethylene microparticles in the styrene–ethylene–butylene–styrene fibers, and the rational regulation of microporosity in SEBS/PTFE metafabrics, thus synergistically backscatter ultraviolet–visible–near-infrared light(maximum reflectance over 98.0%) to minimize heat absorption while efficiently emit human-body midinfrared radiation to the sky. As a result, the developed PDRC metafabric achieves approximately 17℃ cooling effects in an outdoor daytime environment and completely retains its passive cooling performance even under 50% stretching. Further, high-fidelity electrophysiological monitoring capability is also implemented in the breathable and skin-conformal metafabric through liquid metal printing, enabling the accurate acquisition of human electrocardiograph, surface electromyogram, and electroencephalograph signals for comfortable and lengthy health regulation. Hence, the fabricated superelastic PDRC metafabric opens a new avenue for the development of body-comfortable electronics and low-carbon wearing technologies.

A Multi-Domain Compression Radiative Transfer Model for the Fengyun-4 Geosynchronous Interferometric Infrared Sounder (GIIRS)

Forward radiative transfer(RT)models are essential for atmospheric applications such as remote sensing and weather and climate models,where computational efficiency becomes equally as important as accuracy for high-resolution hyperspectral measurements that need rigorous RT simulations for thousands of channels.This study introduces a fast and accurate RT model for the hyperspectral infrared(HIR)sounder based on principal component analysis(PCA)or machine learning(i.e.,neural network,NN).The Geosynchronous Interferometric Infrared Sounder(GIIRS),the first HIR sounder onboard the geostationary Fengyun-4 satellites,is considered to be a candidate example for model development and validation.Our method uses either PCA or NN(PCA/NN)twice for the atmospheric transmittance and radiance,respectively,to reduce the number of independent but similar simulations to accelerate RT simulations;thereby,it is referred to as a multi-domain compression model.The first PCA/NN gives monochromatic gas transmittance in both spectral and atmospheric pressure domains for each gas independently.The second PCA/NN is performed in the traditional spectral radiance domain.Meanwhile,a new method is introduced to choose representative variables for the PCA/NN scheme developments.The model is three orders of magnitude faster than the standard line-by-line-based simulations with averaged brightness temperature difference(BTD)less than 0.1 K,and the compressions based on PCA or NN methods result in comparable efficiency and accuracy.Our fast model not only avoids an excessively complicated transmittance scheme by using PCA/NN but is also highly flexible for hyperspectral instruments with similar spectral ranges simply by updating the corresponding spectral response functions.

Ultra-Broadband Thermal Emitter for Daytime Radiative Cooling with Metal-Insulator-Metal Metamaterials

A novel thermal emitter with metal-insulator-metal design is proposed to realize efficient daytime radiative cooling.It can achieve ultrahigh absorption of 99.67%in the first atmospheric window and strong reflection of94.86%in solar band.Analysis on the cooling performance with different real and imaginary parts of refractive index is carried out to provide a guide line in the material choice.As a case study,three inorganic materials are substituted to get enhanced absorption and it is verified that the refractive index matching is desirable to obtain high absorption.In addition,such high emissivity persists under different incident angles in both TE and TM modes.A net cooling power of 96.39 W/m^(2)is achieved in the daytime with the incorporation of convection coefficients.Finally,this thermal emitter achieves an average temperature drop of 5.1℃based on the solution of conduction equation at 300 K.Therefore,our design with an excellent cooling ability can further bolster development in managements of radiative cooling or thermal radiation.

Near-Field Radiative Heat Transfer between Disordered Multilayer Systems

Near-field radiative heat transfer(NFRHT) research is an important research project after a major breakthrough in nanotechnology. Based on the multilayer structure, we find that due to the existence of inherent losses,the decoupling of hyperbolic modes(HMs) after changing the filling ratio leads to suppression of heat flow near the surface mode resonance frequency. It complements the physical landscape of enhancement of near-field radiative heat transfer by HMs and more surface states supported by multiple surfaces. More importantly, considering the difficulty of accurate preparation at the nanoscale, we introduce the disorder factor to describe the magnitude of the random variation of the layer thickness of the multilayer structure and then explore the effect on heat transfer when the layer thickness is slightly different from the exact value expected. We find that the near-field radiative heat flux decreases gradually as the disorder increases because of interlayer energy localization. However, the reduction in heat transfer does not exceed an order of magnitude, although the disorder is already very large. At the same time, the regulation effect of the disorder on NFRHT is close to that of the same degree of filling ratio,which highlights the importance of disordered systems. This work qualitatively describes the effect of disorder on heat transfer and provides instructive data for the fabrication of NFRHT devices.

Preparation and cooling performance analysis of double-layer radiative cooling hybrid coatings with TiO_(2)/SiO_(2)/Si_(3)N_(4) micron particles

Passive daytime radiative cooling is achieved by radiating heat into outer space through electromagnetic waves without energy consumption. A scalable double-layer coating with a mixture of TiO_(2), SiO_(2), and Si_(3)N_(4)micron particles for radiative cooling is proposed in this study. The finite-difference time-domain algorithm is used to analyze the influence of particle size and coating thickness on radiative cooling performance. The results of the simulation show that the particle size of 3 μm can give the best cooling performance, and the coating thickness should be above 25 μm for SiO_(2)coating. Meanwhile, the mixture of SiO_(2)and Si_(3)N_(4)significantly improves the overall emissivity. Through sample preparation and characterization,the mixture coating with a 1:1 ratio addition on an Al substrate exhibits high reflectivity with a value of 87.6% in the solar spectrum, and an average emissivity of 92% in the infrared region(2.5 μm–15 μm), which can be attributed to the synergy among the optical properties of the material. Both coatings can theoretically be cooled by about 8℃ during the day and about 21℃ at nighttime with hc = 4 W·m^(-2)·K^(-1). Furthermore, even considering the significant conduction and convection exchanges, the cooling effect persists. Outdoor experimental results show that the temperature of the double-layer radiative cooling coating is always lower than the ambient temperature under direct sunlight during the day, and can be cooled by about 5℃ on average, while lower than the temperature of the aluminum film by almost 12℃.

Efficient thermal management and all-season energy harvesting using adaptive radiative cooling and a thermoelectric power generator

Passive daytime radiative cooling(PDRC) is useful for thermal management because it allows an object to emit terrestrial heat into space without the use of additional energy.To produce sub-ambient temperatures under direct sunlight,PDRC materials are designed to reduce their absorption of solar energy and to enhance their long-wavelength infrared(LWIR) emissivity.In recent years,many photonic structures and polymer composites have been studied to improve the cooling system of buildings.However,in cold weather(i.e. during winter in cold climates),buildings need to be kept warm rather than cooled due to heat loss.To overcome this limitation,temperature-responsive radiative cooling is a promising alternative.In the present study,adaptive radiative cooling(ARC) film fabricated from a polydimethylsiloxane/hollow SiO_(2) microsphere/thermochromic pigment composite was investigated.We found that the ARC film absorbed solar radiation under cold conditions while exhibiting radiative cooling at ambient temperatures above 40℃.Thus,in outdoor experiments,the ARC film achieved sub-ambient temperatures and had a theoretical cooling power of 63.2 W/m~2 in hot weather.We also demonstrated that radiative cooling with an energy harvesting system could be used to improve the energy management of buildings,with the thermoelectric module continuously generating output power using the ARC film.Therefore,we believe that our proposed ARC film can be employed for efficient thermal management of buildings and all-season energy harvesting in the near future.

Designing radiative cooling metamaterials for passive thermal management by particle swarm optimization

The passive radiative cooling technology shows a great potential application on reducing the enormous global energy consumption.The multilayer metamaterials could enhance the radiative cooling performance.However,it is a challenge to design the radiative cooler.In this work,based on the particle swarm optimization(PSO)evolutionary algorithm,we develop an intelligent workflow in designing photonic radiative cooling metamaterials.Specifically,we design two 10-layer SiO_(2) radiative coolers doped by cylindrical MgF_(2) or air impurities,possessing high emissivity within the selective(8–13μm)and broadband(8–25μm)atmospheric transparency windows,respectively.Our two kinds of coolers demonstrate power density as high as 119 W/m^(2) and 132 W/m^(2) at the room temperature(300 K).Our scheme does not rely on the usage of special materials,forming high-performing metamaterials with conventional poor-performing components.This significant improvement of the emission spectra proves the effectiveness of our inverse design algorithm in boosting the discovery of high-performing functional metamaterials.

Exciton radiative lifetime in CdSe quantum dots

Colloidal CdSe quantum dots(QDs)are promising materials for solar cells because of their simple preparation pro-cess and compatibility with flexible substrates.The QD radiative recombination lifetime has attracted enormous attention as it affects the probability of photogenerated charges leaving the QDs and being collected at the battery electrodes.However,the scaling law for the exciton radiative lifetime in CdSe QDs is still a puzzle.This article presents a novel explanation that recon-ciles this controversy.Our calculations agree with the experimental measurements of all three divergent trends in a broadened energy window.Further,we proved that the exciton radiative lifetime is a consequence of the thermal average of decays for all thermally accessible exciton states.Each of the contradictory size-dependent patterns reflects this trend in a specific size range.As the optical band gap increases,the radiative lifetime decreases in larger QDs,increases in smaller QDs,and is weakly depend-ent on size in the intermediate energy region.This study addresses the inconsistencies in the scaling law of the exciton life-time and gives a unified interpretation over a widened framework.Moreover,it provides valuable guidance for carrier separa-tion in the thin film solar cell of CdSe QDs.

A Modeling Study of the Effects of Direct Radiative Forcing Due to Carbonaceous Aerosol on the Climate in East Asia

The study investigated the effects of global direct radiative forcing due to carbonaceous aerosol on the climate in East Asia, using the CAM3 developed by NCAR. The results showed that carbonaceous aerosols cause negative forcing at the top of the atmosphere （TOA） and surface under clear sky conditions, but positive forcing at the TOA and weak negative forcing at the surface under all sky conditions. Hence, clouds could change the sign of the direct radiative forcing at the TOA, and weaken the forcing at the surface. Carbonaceous aerosols have distinct effects on the summer climate in East Asia. In southern China and India, it caused the surface temperature to increase, but the total cloud cover and precipitation to decrease. However, the opposite effects are caused for most of northern China and Bangladesh. Given the changes in temperature, vertical velocity, and surface streamflow caused by carbonaceous aerosol in this simulation, carbonaceous aerosol could also induce summer precipitation to decrease in southern China but increase in northern China.

A Polarized Radiative Transfer Model Based on Successive Order of Scattering

Based on Successive Order of Scattering approach, a full Vector Radiative Transfer model （SOSVRT） for vertically inhomogeneous plane-parallel media has been developed. To overcome the computational burdens of convergence, a simple approximation technique by truncating scattering orders with a geometric series is used to reduce computational time. Analytical Fourier decomposition of phase matrix with three symmetry relationships and two mutual inverse operators have been implemented to further improve the computational efficiency. To improve the accuracy, a post-processing procedure is implemented to accurately interpolate the Stokes vector at arbitrary angles. Comparisons with the benchmarks for an atmosphere of randomly orientated oblate spheroids show excellent agreement for each Stokes parameter （within 0.1%）. SOSVRT has been tested for different atmospheric condition against RT3, which is based on doubling-adding method, and the results prove that SOSVRT is accurate and much more efficient in vector radiative transfer modeling, especially for optical thin atmosphere, which is the most common case in polarized radiative transfer simulations. SOSVRT is written in Fortran 90 and the code is freely accessible by contacting the author.

Simulation of the Radiative Effect of Black Carbon Aerosols and the Regional Climate Responses over China

As part of the development work of the Chinese new regional climate model (RIEMS), the radiative process of black carbon (BC) aerosols has been introduced into the original radiative procedures of RIEMS, and the transport model of BC aerosols has also been established and combined with the RIEMS model. Using the new model system, the distribution of black carbon aerosols and their radiative effect over the China region are investigated. The influences of BC aerosole on the atmospheric radiative transfer and on the air temperature, land surface temperature, and total rainfall are analyzed. It is found that BC aerosols induce a positive radiative forcing at the top of the atmosphere (TOA), which is dominated by shortwave radiative forcing. The maximum radiative forcing occurs in North China in July and in South China in April. At the same time, negative radiative forcing is observed on the surface. Based on the radiative forcing comparison between clear sky and cloudy sky, it is found that cloud can enforce the TOA positive radiative forcing and decrease the negative surface radiative forcing. The responses of the climate system in July to the radiative forcing due to BC aerosols are the decrease in the air temperature in the middle and lower reaches of the Changjiang River and Huaihe area and most areas of South China, and the weak increase or decrease in air temperature over North China. The total rainfall in the middle and lower reaches of the Changjiang River area is increased, but it decreased in North China in July.

The Impacts of Optical Properties on Radiative Forcing Due to Dust Aerosol

There are large uncertainties in the quantitative assessment of radiative effects due to atmospheric dust aerosol. The optical properties contribute much to those uncertainties. The authors perform several sensitivity experiments to estimate the impacts of optical characteristics on regional radiative forcing in this paper. The experiments involve in refractive indices, single scattering aibedo, asymmetry factor and optical depth. An updated dataset of refractive indices representing East Asian dust and the one recommended by the World Meteorology Organization （WMO） are contrastively analyzed and used. A radiative transfer code for solar and thermal infrared radiation with detailed aerosol parameterization is employed. The strongest emphasis is on the refractive indices since other optical parameters strongly depend on it, and the authors found a strong sensitivity of radiative forcing on refractive indices. Studies show stronger scattering, weaker absorption and forward scattering of the East Asian dust particles at solar wavelengths, which leads to higher negative forcing, lower positive forcing and bigger net forcing at the top of the atmosphere （TOA） than that of the WMO dust model. It is also found that the TOA forcings resulting from these two dust models have opposite signs in certain regions, which implies the importance of accurate measurements of optical properties in the quantitative estimation of radiative forcing.