Design of radiative cooling paint coating and insights into its sub-ambient cooling behaviour

Abstract: Recent developments in radiative cooling technologies have primarily focused on affordable paint coatings that are easy to fabricate and deploy. Using a systematic approach to obtain optimal parameters, a radiative cooling (RC) paint coating using titanium dioxide (TiO2) and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is designed. The resulting paint exhibits a high solar reflectivity of 88.2 % (more than 94% in visible and NIR) and an emissivity of 92.4 %. Outdoor testing demonstrates a maximum reduction of 7.9 0C in the internal temperature of an RC paint-coated aluminium (Al) box compared to a bare Al box but in contrast to other studies, no sub-ambient cooling have been observed. In this context, a comprehensive analysis explaining the absence of sub-ambient cooling and underscore the importance of a standardized reporting methodology for RC paints has been discussed. Theoretical calculations suggest that the developed RC paint can achieve sub-ambient cooling (1-4 0C) under specific ambient conditions.