Passive radiative cooling (PRC), as an electricity-free and environmentally friendly cooling strategy, is highly desirable in improving the global energy landscape. Despite numerous efforts, most designs for PRC are so devoted to improving the cooling performance in the daytime that they neglect the triggered overcooling at night. Herein, we approached an effective design for temperature-adaptive thermal management through integrating PRC and temperature control of room-temperature phase change material. Compared with conventional radiative coolers, the developed phase change material-enhanced radiative cooler (PCMRC) can adjust its performance according to the temperature of day and night. The PCMRC achieved an average subambient temperature drop of ∼6.3 °C under direct sunlight and an average temperature rise of ∼2.1 °C above ambient temperature at night, as well as a reduced temperature difference between day and night. The temperature-adaptive PCMRC shows great promise for passive radiative cooling regulation, which can further extend the applications of passive radiative cooling.
Keywords: overcooling; phase change material; radiative cooling; temperature adaptability; temperature difference; thermal regulation.