A Sandwich Fabric with Beaded Nanofibers Encapsulating Large-Sized SiO2 Photons for Green Radiative Cooling

Radiative cooling has shown excellent applications in the fields of thermal regulation, UV protection clothing, power generation, and water harvesting due to its ability to cool without energy consumption and pollution emission, thus being a potential green cooling pathway to curb global warming. Herein, a double-needle electrospinning was employed to construct sandwich nanofiber fabrics with beaded nanofibers encapsulating large-sized SiO₂ photons for achieving daytime and nighttime radiative cooling. The sandwich nanofiber fabric is capable of lifting a weight of 594.1 g, demonstrating superior mechanical properties. Because reflectivity was improved by the beaded nanofiber structure and infrared Fröhlich resonance was enhanced by large-sized SiO₂ photons, this fabric was endowed with a high solar reflectivity of 97.8% and an infrared emissivity of 98.7%, achieving an average cooling of 9 °C. Moreover, the fabric possessed a UPF of 132, a T_UVA of 1.76%, and a T_UVB of 0.49% because of the eminent solar reflectivity, which displayed an outstanding UV protection performance. The fabric also demonstrated an excellent hydrophobicity. Thanks to the satisfactory radiative cooling ability, the fabric was successfully applied in thermal management, thermoelectric power generation, and atmospheric water harvesting, greatly promoting the development of radiative cooling textiles.