Desong Fan

Radiative cooling, featuring zero‐energy operation and compatibility with global decarbonization, is a promising route for passive thermal management. Despite major progress over the past few years, advances in radiative cooling have mainly focused on spectral modulation, while the role of thermal conduction in determining practical cooling performance remains far less systematically understood. In fact, different thermal conduction modes can influence radiative cooling in distinct ways by either limiting parasitic heat gain from the environment or enabling heat dissipation from internal sources. Accordingly, radiative cooling materials need to be systematically examined through the lens of tailored thermal conduction. Here, we first analyze the coupling mechanisms between radiative cooling and three different thermal‐conduction modes, namely thermal insulation, enhanced heat conduction, and thermal rectification, and further quantitatively clarify the effects of thermal conduction under different operating conditions, together with the distinct roles of in‐plane and through‐plane thermal transport and system‐level thermal resistance. Building on these mechanisms, we survey recent developments in thermo‐optically engineered radiative cooling materials and their implementation. We further discuss the potential of these different coupling mechanisms in diverse applications. Finally, we identify unresolved challenges and promising research directions for advancing radiative cooling technologies with tailored thermal conduction.

Inverse Kirkendall-tailored biomimetic hierarchical scatterers with multi-scale nanoporosity enable efficient radiative cooling for power infrastructure through optimized light management.

Personal radiative cooling fabrics are a promising zero‐energy solution for creating a cool and comfortable microclimate for outdoor crowds. Despite significant progress, achieving efficient radiative cooling under some extreme situations, such as thermal shock and intensive physical activity, remains a challenge. Herein, a bioinspired metafabric with a dual‐gradient Janus design is reported for personal radiative and evaporative cooling. The hierarchical fiber structure allows for an excellent solar reflectance of 99.4% and mid‐infrared emittance of 0.94, inducing a skin temperature drop of 17.8 °C under intense sunlight. Mesoporous silica nanoparticles fixed in the fibrous network can store evaporative cooling capacity by atmospheric moisture‐absorption in the mild and humid nighttime and release such cooling capacity by moisture‐desorption in the hot daytime, providing an additional skin temperature drop of 2.5 °C. Dual‐gradient Janus design endows the metafabric with an outstanding sweat‐wicking effect and high‐performance sweat evaporative cooling capacity. In the steady‐state evaporation tests, a maximum sweat consumption of only 0.5 ml h⁻¹ can cool the skin to a comfortable temperature, preventing harmful excessive sweating. Additionally, the bioinspired metafabric also possesses favorable wearability and color expansibility. Given these first‐rate features, the bioinspired metafabric will pave the way for the development of advanced functional fabrics.

Passive radiative cooling textiles can reflect sunlight and dissipate heat directly to the outside space without any energy input. However, radiative cooling textiles with high performance, large scalability, cost effectiveness, and high biodegradability are still uncommon. Herein, we exploit a porous fiber-based radiative cooling textile (PRCT) via nonsolvent-induced phase separation and scalable roll-to-roll electrospinning technology. Nanopores are introduced into single fibers, and the pore size can be accurately optimized by managing the relative humidity of the spinning environment. The anti-ultraviolet radiation and superhydrophobicity of textiles were improved by the introduction of core-shell silica microspheres. An optimized PRCT yields a strong solar reflectivity of 98.8% and atmospheric window emissivity of 97%, which results in a sub-ambient temperature drop of 4.5 °C, with the solar intensity over 960 W·m^-2 and 5.5 °C at night. For personal thermal management, it is demonstrated that the PRCT can obtain a temperature drop of 7.1 °C compared to the bare skin under direct sunlight. Given the excellent optical and cooling properties, flexibility, and self-cleaning property, PRCT was demonstrated to be a potential candidate for commercial applications in multifarious complex scenarios to afford a style for global decarbonization.