Polyethylene fibers containing directional microchannels for passive radiative cooling

• Published in: Materials horizons Vol. 11; no. 7; pp. 1787 - 1796
• Main Authors: Sun, Mengxia, Peng, Fei, Xu, Shanshan, Liu, Xianhu, Dai, Kun, Zheng, Guoqiang, Liu, Chuntai, Shen, Changyu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Royal Society of Chemistry 02.04.2024
• Subjects: Cooling effects; Fibers; Leaching; Microchannels; Polyethylenes; Polyolefins; Thermal management
• ISSN: 2051-6347; 2051-6355
• DOI: 10.1039/d3mh01881d

Passive radiative cooling (PRC) that realizes thermal management without consuming any energy has attracted increasing attention. Unfortunately, polymer fibers with radiative cooling function fabricated via a facile, continuous, large-scale and eco-friendly method have been scarcely reported. Herein, polyethylene fibers containing directional microchannels (PFCDM) are facilely fabricated via melt extrusion and water leaching. Interestingly, fabric based on such hydrophobic PFCDM shows high sunlight reflectivity (93.6%), and mid-infrared emissivity (93.9%), endowing it with remarkable PRC performance. Compared with other reported examples, the as-prepared PFDCM fabric has the highest cooling power ( i.e. , 104.285 W m −2 ) and temperature drop ( i.e. , 27.71 °C). Furthermore, decent self-cleaning performance can keep the PFCDM fabric away from contamination and enable it to retain an excellent radiative cooling effect. The method proposed to fabricate PFCDM in this paper will widen the potential application of thermoplastic polyolefins in the field of radiative cooling. The fabric woven by polyethylene fiber containing directional microchannels has excellent radiative cooling and self-cleaning property. Therefore, PFCDM fabric shows huge potential in the field of radiative cooling and human thermal management.