Scientific Achievement
Developed a smart temperature-adaptive radiative coating (TARC) that automatically switches thermal radiation power in response to ambient temperature.
Significance and Impact
TARC outperforms existing roof coatings for energy saving in most climates, especially those with substantial seasonal variations.
Research Details
- TARC optimally absorbs the solar energy at 0.25, and automatically switches thermal emittance from 0.2 for ambient temperatures lower than 15 oC to 0.9 for ambient temperatures above 30oC, driven by a photonically amplified metal-insulator transition in a WxV1-xO2 based meta-structure
- TARC switches from the radiative cooling mode in hot weather to solar-heating or heat-retention mode in cold weather, achieving building energy saving over the year.