Bioinspired Radiative Cooling Materials: From Design Principles to Building Energy Savings

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Sustainable Architecture
• Thermodynamics

Background:

• Buildings account for over one-third of global energy use, with rising cooling demands exacerbating energy consumption and carbon emissions.
• Radiative cooling (RC) materials present a sustainable, zero-energy solution for building temperature regulation, aligning with decarbonization goals.
• Practical application of RC materials is limited by diverse functional requirements across different building components.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review recent advancements in bioinspired radiative cooling (RC) materials for building energy savings.
• To explore the design principles, material selection, and application-specific requirements of bioinspired RC materials.
• To outline future challenges and prospects for the real-world implementation of RC materials in buildings.

Main Methods:

• Review of bioinspired structural design and material selection for static and dynamic RC materials.
• Analysis of specific performance requirements for RC materials in roofs, walls, and windows.
• Summary of performance assessment methodologies, including optical metrics and building-specific evaluations.
• Exploration of machine learning applications in the discovery and design of RC materials.

Main Results:

• Bioinspired design strategies enable the development of RC materials tailored for specific building components (roofs, walls, windows).
• Key performance metrics and building-specific evaluations are crucial for assessing RC material efficacy.
• Machine learning accelerates the discovery and structural design of novel RC materials.
• Integration with other cooling methods and addressing durability are critical for practical adoption.

Conclusions:

• Bioinspired RC materials show significant promise for sustainable building cooling and energy savings.
• Tailoring material properties to specific building applications is essential for effective implementation.
• Further research and development, including intelligent integration and addressing practical challenges, are needed for widespread adoption of RC technologies.