Structural Optimization of Radiative Cooling Nanocomposite Films for Clothing Applications
POLYMERS FOR ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES, cilt.1, sa.1, ss.1-19, 2026 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)
- Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
- Cilt numarası: 1 Sayı: 1
- Basım Tarihi: 2026
- Dergi Adı: POLYMERS FOR ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES
- Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Scopus, Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Chemical Abstracts Core, Chimica, Compendex, INSPEC
- Sayfa Sayıları: ss.1-19
- Süleyman Demirel Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet
Özet
Passive radiative cooling structures
that combine enhanced solar reflectivity and
higher emissivity, have recently drawn attention. However, achieving
efficient cooling performance critically depends on the structural optimization
of both material composition and fabrication parameters. Herein, randomly distributed micro-nano porous
polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) nanocomposite films (PVDF-ZnO) including zinc
oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles were fabricated through non-solvent induced phase
separation (NIPS) method. A comprehensive optimization was carried out about film thickness, particle diameter, and
concentration to obtain the necessary heterogeneous porous nanocomposite structure
enabling enhanced mid-infrared emissivity and solar reflectivity for passive
cooling performance. Besides standard morphological and chemical analyses,
emissivity and reflectivity characteristics were measured by FT-IR and
UV-VIS-NIR spectrophotometers with integrating spheres, respectively. Direct
passive cooling performances were measured, and cooling power calculations were
conducted under both simulated and real-life conditions by a hotplate system
including lamp and outdoor measurements in turn. Results demonstrate that ZnO
incorporation within the porous film enhanced both emissivity (up to 94%) and
reflectivity (up to 94%) for all production parameters. Accordingly, the
maximum passive cooling performance was obtained for the nanocomposite film
having 30 nm, 20% ZnO and 600 μm thickness according to hotplate test results
compared to their nonporous form (7.73°C), bare skin (9.2°C), and cotton fabric
(9.62°C). For the real-life conditions,
PVDF-90ZnO20_400 had the maximum cooling performance; namely 17.1°C and 16.1°C
under cloudy and sunny weather, respectively. The optimized
nanocomposite structures gave promising results from a scalable production approach,
making them ideal candidates for various clothing
applications.