Scalable method of fabricating structured polymers for passive daytime radiative cooling and other applications
AssigneeThe Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York
InventorsJyotirmoy Mandal, Yuan Yang, Nanfang Yu
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A structured material is provided that includes a substrate and a porous structured polymer layer disposed thereon. The porous structured polymer layer includes a plurality of voids, and has a high hemispherical reflectance a high a hemispherical thermal emittance. The structured material is thus particularly advantageous for cool-roof coatings, enabling surfaces coated by the material to stay cool, even under strong sunlight. The material can be produced via structuring of polymers in a mixture including a solvent and a non-solvent. Sequential evaporation of the solvent and the non-solvent provide a polymer layer with the plurality of voids.
Claims20
A composition, comprising:
- an amount of a pore-forming agent, the pore-forming agent being curable to form a structure having a plurality of voids therein and arranged to facilitate reflecting solar radiation away from a surface covered by the structure and dissipate heat by thermal radiation;
- a polar species;
- and
- a non-polar species,
- wherein the distribution of the pore-forming agent, the polar species, and the non-polar species in the composition is homogenous.
A method, comprising:
- applying a composition comprising a pore-forming agent, a second species, and a third species to a substrate and effecting removal of the second species and the third species so as to give rise to a structure having a plurality of voids therein and arranged to facilitate reflecting solar radiation away from a surface covered by the structure and dissipate heat by thermal radiation,
- wherein the second species is a polar species,
- wherein the third species is a non-polar species, and
- wherein the distribution of the pore-forming agent, the second species, and the third species in the composition is homogenous.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.