Long-term durability and weatherability of polymer-based passive daytime radiative cooling materials

Traditional space cooling using air conditioners is very energy intensive, creates a net warming effect to the globe, and involves refrigerants that are ozone-depleting and potent greenhouse gases. In Canada, 6% of all energy use in the commercial sector is for space cooling alone, and this number is expected to grow significantly in the coming years due to global warming. Passive daytime radiative cooling (PDRC) is an alternative approach that utilizes specialized coatings to selectively emit heat through the atmosphere into the cold of outer space. To enable efficient daytime cooling, such coatings must also be highly reflective to sunlight. PDRC therefore presents an interesting materials challenge that has proliferated promising new coatings which show high initial performance. The critical next step to bring this technology to practice is to demonstrate the long-term durability of these coatings in real-world conditions. This project aims to address this next step by investigating the long-term weatherability and durability of a polymer-based PDRC coating material. To achieve this, the optical and mechanical properties will be regularly monitored as the coatings are subjected to extreme environmental conditions both in a simulated laboratory environment as well as outdoors under real weather conditions. The proposed research will

Faculty Supervisor:

Thomas Cooper

Student:

Partner:

ChillSkyn Inc.

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Manufacturing

University:

York University

Program: