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Laser cooling of solids currently has a temperature floor of 50 - 100 K. We propose a method that could overcome this using defects, such as diamond color centers, with narrow electronic manifolds and bright optical transitions. It exploits…
We designed a multilayered self-adaptive absorber/emitter metamaterial, which can smartly switch between a solar absorber and a radiative cooler based on temperature change. The switching capability is facilitated by the phase change…
In this work, a metamaterial selective solar absorber made of nanostructured titanium gratings deposited on an ultrathin MgF2 spacer and a tungsten ground film is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. Normal absorptance of the…
Thin films made of deformable micro- and nano-units, such as biological membranes, polymer interfaces, and particle-laden liquid surfaces, exhibit a complex behavior during drying, with consequences for various applications like wound…
Robotic systems' mobility is constrained by power sources and wiring. While pneumatic actuators remain tethered to air supplies, we developed a new actuator utilizing light energy. Inspired by nocturnal animals' eyes, we designed a bilayer…
We present the design and characterisation of a cryogenic window based on an ultra-thin aluminised PET foil at T < 10K, which can withstand a pressure difference larger than 1bar at a leak rate < $1\times 10^{-9}$ mbar$\cdot$ l/s. Its…
The light absorption of [001] grown single-crystalline silicon wafers can be enhanced by chemical etching with potassium hydroxide resulting in a pyramid-like surface texture. Alongside this advantageous property in the context of solar…
The detailed knowledge of the inner skin temperature behavior is very important to evaluate and manage the aging of large pipes in cooling systems. We describe here a method to obtain this information as a function of outer skin temperature…
As an emerging electricity-free cooling technology, radiative cooling employs outer space as the heat sink. With this, a sky-facing thermal emitter is usually required. Due to the black-body radiation limit at ambient temperature, the…
When sheared, most elastic solids such as metals, rubbers and polymer hydrogels dilate in the direction perpendicular to the shear plane. This well-known behaviour known as the Poynting effect is characterized by a positive normal stress.…
With the increasing frequency, intensity, and duration of extreme heat events due to climate change, heat-related diseases or even mortality have become more prevalent. An efficient personal cooling strategy can mitigate heat stress by…
Radiative cooling emerged as a possible sustainable solution to the energy hungry vapor compression-based cooling. However, realizing subfreezing temperatures through radiative cooling remains challenging in environments with high humidity…
Theoretically and experimentally we have proved the existence of optimal thickness of the porous layer used as an anti-reflection coating in solar cells. We have taken into account the joint mechanisms of generation and recombination of…
A novel photonic thermal diode concept operating in the near field and capitalizing on the temperature-dependence of coupled surface polariton modes in nanostructures is proposed. The diode concept utilizes terminals made of the same…
With the technology of artificial defects creating, we can tune the band structure and transport properties of many two-dimensional (2D) layered materials. One prototype materials system is the antidoted graphene sheet, where periodical…
Technologies enabling passive daytime radiative cooling and daylight harvesting are highly relevant for energy-efficient buildings. Despite recent progress demonstrated with passively cooling polymer coatings, however, it remains…
Radiative cooling has proven to be a powerful strategy for sustainable thermal management. Nanophotonic structures enabling broadband reflection lead to minimization of sunlight absorption, which has brought nighttime-limited radiative…
The exponential growth in population and the increasing global temperature trickles down to an explosive demand in cooling and refrigeration. The vicious cycle of carbon footprint generation by these cooling devices can be broken by a…
Light weight and mechanically robust cellular polymer nanofilms provide materials solutions to many cutting-edge technologies, such as high-flux membrane filtration, ultrathin flexible energy storage, and skin-conformable devices. However,…
A surface that selectively emits heat in the long-wave infrared (LWIR) can enable passive cooling in hot environments while retaining partial radiative insulation in cold conditions, but its real-world deployment is limited by reliance on…