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Night-time radiative warming using the atmosphere.

Yining ZhuYiwei ZhouBing QinRui QinMin QiuQiang Li
Published in: Light, science & applications (2023)
Night-time warming is vital for human production and daily life. Conventional methods like active heaters are energy-intensive, while passive insulating films possess restrictions regarding space consumption and the lack of heat gain. In this work, a nanophotonic-based night-time warming strategy that passively inhibits thermal radiation of objects while actively harnessing that of atmosphere is proposed. By using a photonic-engineered thin film that exhibits high reflectivity (~0.91) in the atmospheric transparent band (8-14 μm) and high absorptivity (~0.7) in the atmospheric radiative band (5-8 and 14-16 μm), temperature rise of 2.1 °C/4.4 °C compared to typical low-e film and broadband absorber is achieved. Moreover, net heat loss as low as 9 W m -2 is experimentally observed, compared to 16 and 39 W m -2 for low-e film and broadband absorber, respectively. This strategy suggests an innovative way for sustainable warming, thus contributes to addressing the challenges of climate change and promoting global carbon neutrality.
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