Superhydrophobic and recyclable passive daytime radiative cooling fabric prepared via electrospinning

Passive daytime radiative cooling (PDRC) is a highly promising sustainable cooling technology, due to its characteristic of not requiring additional energy input. However, the manufacturing processes of most PDRC fabrics are still expensive or complex, and they still face challenges related to outdoor contamination and recyclability. Herein, we report a simple and cost-effective method to fabricate a novel superhydrophobic and recyclable radiative cooling fabric (SRCF) based on styrene-ethylene/butylene-styrene (SEBS) electrospun fabric (SEF) and octadecyltrichlorosilane (OTS) modified silica (O-SiO 2 ) nanoparticles. The reasonable fiber diameter and particle size distributions enabled SRCF to achieve high solar reflectance (91.5 %) and strong infrared emissivity (91.3 %), resulting in a sub-ambient temperature drop of ∼9.3 °C under direct sunlight. The incorporation of O-SiO 2 imparted SRCF with superhydrophobic and self-cleaning properties, ensuring stable cooling performance even after 30 days of outdoor exposure. Additionally, SRCF exhibited recyclability, addressing critical sustainability challenges for large-scale applications. This work demonstrates the first PDRC fabric integrating superhydrophobicity and recyclability, offering a promising solution for energy-saving and environmentally sustainable applications.