Self-cleaning energy-free PDMS@KL film for daytime radiative cooling

Passive daytime radiative cooling (PDRC) technique is desirable for outdoor application as it can cool objects without energy consumption. In this work, a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) film incorporated with Kaolin particles was fabricated by a simple and low-cost method. Integrating with high sunlight reflectance and great thermal emissivity, the sample displayed a remarkable PDRC property by yielding an average temperature drop of 12.8℃ compared to the sub-ambient temperature. Additionally, the superhydrophobicity of the sample enabled the surface of the sample free-contamination after water rinse. The superhydrophobic properties can be maintained even after 60 days of UV light continuous exposure.