Transparent Radiative Cooling Coatings
Project Description
We aim to design, fabricate, and demonstrate transparent coatings using conductive polymers for passive radiative cooling targeting application such as the glass roofs of electric vehicles and windows of buildings, to reduce their HVAC energy consumption in hot climates. The motivation for this project stems from the need for transparent radiative cooling technologies that can be integrated with glass for scale-up deployment. Current scalable radiative cooling technologies, such as ultrawhite cooling paints, are opaque and not suitable for transparent applications. Our preliminary studies on glass coated with n-PBDF indicate that this system can transmit visible light, reflect near-infrared (NIR) light to reduce solar heating, and emit mid-infrared (MIR) radiation for spontaneous thermal dissipation, making it effective for passive thermal regulation. The project is built upon Professors Xiulin Ruan and Jianguo Mei’s combined expertise in heat transfer, organic chemistry, and conductive polymers.
Start Date
Spring, summer, or fall 2026
Postdoc Qualifiations
The candidate is expected to have earned (or will earn in the near future) a PhD degree in Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Electrical Engineering (Optics), or other relevant fields. Relevant previous research experience and scientific publications are desired. The candidate should also have excellent writing and speaking skills.
Co-advisors
Xiulin Ruan, Professor, School of Mechanical Engineering. Email: ruan@purdue.edu, website: https://engineering.purdue.edu/NANOENERGY/
Jianguo Mei, Richard and Judith Wien Professor and Department Head, James Tarpo Jr. and Margaret Tarpo Department of Chemistry, Email: jgmei@purdue.edu, website: https://jianguomei.com
Bibliography
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Xiaojie Liu, Won-June Lee, Daniel William Carne, Yanpei Tian, Andrea Felicelli, Yue Lei, Joseph A Romo, Liyan You, Zixin Xiong, Orlando Gabriel Rivera Gonzalez, Abdulrahman Aljwirah, Qiaoqiang Gan, Jianguo Mei*, and Xiulin Ruan*, "High-Performance Low-Emissivity Paints Enabled by N-Doped Poly (benzodifurandione)(n-PBDF) for Energy-Efficient Buildings," Adv. Funct. Mat. 2419685 (2025). Dudong Feng, Andrew S Witty, Fletcher I Birnbaum, Orlando G Rivera Gonzalez, Andrea Felicelli, Won‐June Lee, Emily C Barber, and Xiulin Ruan*, “Self‐Stratifying Colored Radiative Cooling Paints Through Narrow‐Band Color Preservation Scheme,” Adv. Mater. e04382 (2025). Xiangyu Li, Joseph Peoples, Peiyan Yao, and Xiulin Ruan*, "Ultrawhite BaSO4 Paints and Films for Remarkable Daytime Subambient Radiative Cooling," ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 13, 21733-21739 (2021). Inho Song, Won-June Lee, Zhifan Ke, Liyan You, Ke Chen, Sumon Naskar, Palak Mehra, and Jianguo Mei*, An n-doped capacitive transparent conductor for all-polymer electrochromic displays, nature Electronics, 12, 1158-1169 (2024) Aristide Gumyusenge, Dung T. Tran, Xuyi Luo, Gregory M. Pitch, Yan Zhao, Kaelon A. Jenkins, Tim J. Dunn, Alexander L. Ayzner, Brett M. Savoie,*, Jianguo Mei,* Semiconducting polymer blends that exhibit stable charge transport at high temperatures, Science, 2018, 362, 1131-1134. DOI: 10.1126/science.aau0759. |