Linxiao Zhu

TL;DR: An integrated photonic solar reflector and thermal emitter consisting of seven layers of HfO2 and SiO2 that reflects 97 per cent of incident sunlight while emitting strongly and selectively in the atmospheric transparency window demonstrates that the cold darkness of the Universe can be used as a renewable thermodynamic resource, even during the hottest hours of the day.

TL;DR: It is theoretically show that ultra-large temperature reduction for as much as 60 °C from ambient is achievable by using a selective thermal emitter and by eliminating parasitic thermal load, and experimentally demonstrate a temperature reduction that far exceeds previous works.

TL;DR: This work experimentally demonstrates a visibly transparent thermal blackbody, based on a silica photonic crystal, that can cool structures by thermal radiation to outer space, while preserving the structures’ solar absorption.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors proposed a general approach to radiatively lower the operating temperature of a solar cell through sky access, while maintaining its solar absorption, and demonstrated that the radiative cooling effect is substantial, even in the presence of significant convection and conduction and parasitic solar absorption in the cooling layer.

TL;DR: Functional NFTPV devices consisting of a microfabricated system and a custom-built nanopositioner are described and an ~40-fold enhancement in the power output at nominally 60 nm gaps relative to the far field is demonstrated.