Biomimetic, hierarchical-programmed gel coating for adaptive and sustainable thermal modulation

Abstract

Radiative cooling coating (RCC) provides a sustainable pathway for thermal management. However, the spectrally engineered RCC’s thermal regulation behavior relies heavily on clear weather, limiting the development of its adaptive thermal management performance and high cooling power. Inspired by the skin’s thermo-regulation, we report a bionic skin meta-gel coating (BSMC) with an adaptive spectrum and moisture modulation capability through hierarchical structure design and localized molecular confinement engineering. Autonomous thermal regulation and high cooling power are attained for the BSMC. Compared to conventional RCC, the BSMC achieves superior cooling performance (a reduction of 4°C) at high temperatures. Conversely, the BSMC can heat a space via photo-thermal effect at low temperatures. Moreover, the BSMC addresses heat accumulation in thermal camouflage nets. According to calculations, the BSMC improves cooling power by 233 W/m² and significantly decreases global CO₂ emissions by 1.9 billion tons/year. The BSMC solves the bottleneck of RCCs and promotes global low-carbon development.