Dissertation Title: Design and Evaluation of Low-thickness Radiative Cooling Material and Applications in Atmospheric Water Harvesting and Plant Factories
Date: 2026/05/19 – 2026/05/19
Dissertation Title: Design and Evaluation of Low-thickness Radiative Cooling Material and Applications in Atmospheric Water Harvesting and Plant Factories
Speaker: Kunlang Bu (卜坤朗)
Time: May 19, 10:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m., 2026 (Beijing Time)
Location: Room 200 at East Wing of Bao Yugang Library (GIFT building)
Abstract
Global warming drives rising cooling demand, while traditional cooling systems consume energy and emit heat/greenhouse gases, creating a vicious cycle. Radiative cooling materials, with strong solar reflectivity and infrared emissivity, enable zero-energy heat exchange with the cold universe (3 K). However, existing research lacks low-thickness design guidance, standardized performance assessment, and expanded applications beyond buildings. This dissertation addresses these gaps: first, a particle swarm optimization (PSO) method is developed to maximize solar reflectivity for low-thickness coatings, showing h-BN outperforms TiO₂ above 20 µm (96.1% vs. 90.6% at 200 µm). Second, scalable multilayer films and h-BN-based paints are fabricated, with standardized optical/thermal testing confirming the film’s superior performance (95.5% solar reflectivity, 86.7% infrared emissivity). Third, porous PE wind covers enhance atmospheric water harvesting by up to 19.5%. Finally, radiative cooling materials reduce plant factory energy use by 11.2% in hot climates. This work establishes a complete framework for low-thickness radiative cooling materials from design, fabrication, evaluation to practical applications.
Biography
Kunlang Bu is a final-year Ph.D. candidate at SJTU Global College in Shanghai. He is currently advised by Prof. Hua Bao. He is interested in design of low-thickness radiative cooling material and its applications. His current research focuses on optimizing particle design in low-thickness radiative cooling materials, fabrication and evaluation of radiative cooling materials, and applications of radiative cooling materials in atmospheric water harvesting and plant factories.