Yang Fu

A white infrared-transparent aerogel decouples solar reflection and thermal emission while suppressing parasitic heat gain, enabling deep subambient cooling and enhanced building-energy savings across climates.

Ice accumulation poses a significant threat to aviation safety and energy infrastructure. Photothermal superhydrophobic surfaces offer a promising anti-/deicing strategy; however, their excessive heat absorption in summer accelerates material degradation and exacerbates urban heat island effects, highlighting the urgent need for dynamic thermal regulation. In this study, we present a self-regulated photothermal storage superhydrophobic film with a trilayer design, comprising a photothermal phase-change base layer, a freeze-resistant thermochromic hydrogel interlayer, and a transparent superhydrophobic top layer. This multifunctional design enables seasonal adaptability, achieving 92% solar absorptance for efficient anti-/deicing in winter and 62% solar modulation to mitigate overheating in summer. This dual mode prolongs freezing time by 10-fold at −20 °C and lowers surface temperature by up to 17 °C in hot weather, demonstrating substantial potential for global building energy-savings. Additionally, its ultraviolet-blocking capability and durable superhydrophobicity ensure long-term durability performance in harsh environments. This work not only addresses the critical overheating challenge in photothermal materials but also advances the development of next-generation anti-icing systems.

Solution-processed metal oxide (MO) thin-film transistors present substantial promise for next-generation large-area, low-cost electronics. However, challenges like prolonged high-temperature annealing (at >400 °C) and a lack of universal, high-resolution printing technology hinder their widespread applications. Here we report a processing technology, termed ‘plasmonic printing’, for fabricating high-performance, solution-processed all-MO thin-film electronics under room temperature and ambient conditions. This process leverages femtosecond-laser-excited silver nanowires to induce plasmonic local heating, facilitating rapid (<0.3 s) and localized conversion of MO precursors into high-quality MO thin films, including conductor, dielectric and semiconductor. Remarkably, these MO thin films exhibit superior electrical performance without the requirement of special gases or high-temperature treatment, thereby enhancing the fabrication efficiency. Furthermore, precise pattern control is demonstrated, enabling the fabrication of high-density, solution-processed all-MO transistor arrays (48,400 transistors per square centimetre) and integrated logic gates with uniformity and precision. This technology presents a promising pathway for the cost-effective and high-throughput printing of high-density, complex, multilayered solution-processed MO electronics, delivering performance on par with vacuum-based counterparts.

Daytime passive radiative cooling devices expel heat into the cold outer space by thermal radiation, offering an energy-efficient strategy for cooling terrestrial objects. Colored coolers are more desirable than white ones in real-world applications under the demands of aesthetics and reducing light pollution. The recently proposed fluorescence-assisted methods based on phosphor powders have simultaneously achieved sub-ambient cooling performance and bright colors, ascribed to the fluorescence-induced heat gain offset and consequent high-effective solar reflectance. However, the color gamut of radiative coolers is still limited due to the lack of blue colors, attributed to the absorption of the majority of visible light. In this work, we propose and prepare a light-blue radiative cooling coating composed of a ZrO₂ white bottom layer with a remarkable high solar reflectance of >98% and an ultra-thin top layer consisting of a blue phosphor (SrO·Al₂O₃: Eu). This bilayer coating reveals a high effective solar reflectance of 94% with a vivid light-blue appearance and achieves a sub-ambient temperature reduction of 3–4.4 °C under a peak solar intensity of >800 W m⁻² and an average humidity of 30% in Hong Kong. Our work paves the way for fabricating highly efficient radiative cooling coatings with a whole gamut of tunable colors.

Passive daytime radiative cooling has emerged as a promising green technology for the thermal management of buildings, vehicles, textiles, and electronics. Typically, both high solar reflectance and high thermal emissivity are prerequisites to achieve sufficient daytime cooling. However, colored radiative cooling materials are facing the dilemma of introducing visible light absorption, leading to challenges in balancing cooling and aesthetic demands. Here, three colored bilayer radiative cooling coatings, each comprised of a white base layer and a colored top layer with fluorescence enhancement are fabricated. Three phosphors (Sr₂Si₅N₈:Eu²⁺, Y₃Al₅O₁₂:Ce³⁺, and (Ba,Sr)SiO₄:Eu²⁺) are employed with respective photoluminescence quantum yields (PLQYs) of 81%, 95.8%, and 91.0% as the colored pigment in the top layer. To mitigate the contradiction between coloration and solar reflectance, SiO₂ microspheres are introduced into the top layer and utilize their Mie‐resonance‐based multiple scattering to increase the photoluminescent (PL) properties of the phosphors, which jointly boosts the effective solar reflectance (ESR) of the top layer. As a result, the three bilayer coatings exhibit soft colors while achieving subambient cooling with temperature drops of up to 1.5 °C. This fluorescence‐enhancement strategy may pave the way for preparing highly efficient radiative cooling coatings with tunable colors.

The urgent need for sustainable cooling solutions has propelled the development of radiative cooling (RC) technology, exploiting the universe’s coldness to achieve cooling without external energy. However, the static nature of traditional RC (SRC) designs limits their adaptability to varying thermal demands. Dynamic RC (DRC) materials and systems have emerged as a cutting-edge solution, enabling cooling performance modulation in response to the changing environment. This review provides an overview of the latest advancements in DRC research, explores the innovative material and structural designs of various DRC systems, highlighting their immense potential for transforming thermal management across diverse sectors. The incorporation of SRC and DRC into various systems is discussed, such as building envelopes, heating, ventilation, air-conditioning and cooling systems and evaporative cooling. The application of SRC and DRC materials at the urban scale is explored, focusing on their widespread implementation on roofs, walls, and pavements to reduce surface and ambient temperatures and mitigate the UHI effect. Looking ahead, the key challenges and opportunities for the next generation of DRC research are defined. Overall, this review serves as a roadmap for pushing the boundaries of sustainable cooling technology and reshaping the material and system development for future built environment.