Development of ZrC/T-shaped ZnO whisker coated dual-mode Janus fabric for thermal management. (February 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Wang, Yuxiang; Shou, Dahua; Shang, Songmin; Chiu, Ka-Lok; Jiang, Shouxiang
• Is Part Of: Solar energy. Volume 233(2022)
• Page Start: 196
• Page End: 203
• Publication Date: 2022-02
• Subjects: Janus fabric -- Photothermal conversion -- Solar heat shielding -- Thermal management -- FDTD simulation; Solar energy -- Periodicals; Solar engines -- Periodicals; 621.47
• DOI: 10.1016/j.solener.2022.01.012
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0038-092X

Abstract

Highlights: We introduce an integrated strategy for fabricating a new Janus fabric with heating and cooling modes, which requires no additional external energy to work. Both indoor and outdoor experiments reveal its significant performance in heating and cooling modes. Numerically verify the Mie scattering of the T-shaped ZnO whisker coating. The Janus fabric could be an enabling energy saving technology for intelligent architecture textile and allow assisting in decarbonisation. Abstract: The emergence of thermal management technologies is vital to enhancement of personal thermal comfort and reduction in building energy consumption. Despite of tremendous advancement in thermoregulative textiles, the cooling and heating functions are often achieved separately, failing to meet the practical requirements under a dynamically changing thermal environment. Regarding such a significant scientific and technological challenge, we report on an innovative Janus thermoregulative fabric with cooling and heating modes, based on solar heat shielding and photothermal conversion, respectively. The Zirconium carbide (ZrC) nanoparticles with broad-band absorption and photo-thermal conversion were deposited one side of a polyester fabric substrate using magnetron sputtering, while the T-shaped ZnO (TZ) micro-whiskers minimizing heat gain in the visible and near-infrared (NIR) were coated on the opposite side with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and polyurethane (PU) resin. The home-made chambers covered by the Janus fabric are cooled by 5–7 °C and warmed by 2–3 °C under both indoor and outdoor environments. The photothermal enhancement in the heating mode is significantly improved by over 20% in the solar irradiance absorption, and in the cooling mode, the Janus fabric has a large reflectivity (∼90%) and a high emissivity (>90%) in the mid-infrared simultaneously. The fabrication of the present Janus fabric is highly scalable, showing great potential in improving personal thermal management and energy saving of indoor air conditioning.