Outdoor personal thermal comfort is of substantial significance to ameliorate the health conditions of pedestrian and outdoor laborer. However, the uncontrollable sunlight, substantial radiative loss, and intense temperature fluctuations in the outdoor environment present majestic challenges to outdoor personal thermal management. Here, we report an eco-friendly passive nanostructured textile which harvests energy from the sun and the outer space for optional localized heating and cooling. Compared to conventional heating/cooling textiles like black/ white cotton, its heating/cooling mode enables a skin simulator temperature increase/decrease of 8.1 °C/6 °C, respectively, under sunlight exposure. Meanwhile, the temperature gradient created between the textile and human skin allows a continuous electricity generation with thermoelectric modules. Owing to the exceptional outdoor thermoregulation ability, this Janus textile is promising to help maintain a comfortable microclimate for individuals in outdoor environment and provide a platform for pervasive power generation.
Active temperature control devices are widely used for the thermal management of enclosures, including vehicles and buildings. Passive radiative cooling has been extensively studied; however, its integration with existing actively temperature regulated and decorative enclosures has slipped out of the research at status quo. Here, we present a photonic-engineered dual-side thermal management strategy for reducing the active power consumption of the existing temperature-regulated enclosure without sacrificing its aesthetics. By coating the exterior and interior of the enclosure roof with two visible-transparent films with distinctive wavelength-selectivity, simultaneous control over the energy exchange among the enclosure with the hot sun, the cold outer space, the atmosphere, and the active cooler can be implemented. A power-saving of up to 63% for active coolers of the enclosure is experimentally demonstrated by measuring the heat flux compared to the ordinary enclosure when the set temperature is around 26°C. This photonic-engineered dual-side thermal management strategy offers facile integration with the existing enclosures and represents a new paradigm toward carbon neutrality.
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