Research progress, trends, roadmap, and new perspectives on radiative cooling towards practical applications

This study assesses existing literature on radiative cooling through bibliometric and keyword analyses, shedding light on both quantitative and qualitative aspects of the subject. The research adheres to a systematic methodology, encompassing query formulation, data extraction, data curation, and analysis, accompanied by author interpretations and discussions. The evaluation encompasses the scrutiny of radiative cooling patents and scientific publications. For patents, trends, and geographic distribution are analyzed, while for scientific publications, a comprehensive overview of subtopics, subject areas, top journals of publication, distinctive trends, geographical distribution, affiliations, document types, and the central focus of previous studies are examined. From the results, the main questions on research diversity, dimensions, dominance, methodological approach, evolution, trends, and commercial relevance among others are discussed. From this investigation, it was found out that, although research on radiative cooling dates to the 1880 s, it is in the last decade when substantial growth was experienced across multiple disciplines. China and the United States of America emerged as the top contributors in this research domain.