Electrochromic Harvester for All-Day Energy Savings in Buildings
Technologies that can simultaneously capture energy from outer space and the sun have garnered extensive interest in recent years. However, the utilization of these two energy sources is challenged by their conflicting spectral requirements, making it difficult to capture both in a single device or material. Here, an adaptive energy harvester coupling photothermal conversion and radiative cooling utilizing photonic metastructure electrodes in conjunction with reversible metal electrodeposition technology for all-day continuous energy harnessing is reported. The harvester demonstrates sustained bistability for over 30 days with large emissivity contrast (0.82 at 3–5 μm, 0.66 at 7.5–13 μm), robust environmental durability, and scalability (100 cm2) for switching between heating and cooling states. World-wide energy simulations show that it can significantly reduce energy consumption in buildings by up to 21.4%, amounting to a savings of 95.8 GJ year-round. This harvester offers a promising method to utilize heat source and heat sink, sun and outer space, to improve sustainability and reduce carbon foot print of the Earth.
Authors
- Zhenshan Gao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3391-1460)
- Tao Xie (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1506-802X)
- Yina Cui (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-6724-1615)
- Zhen Meng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9833-6001)
- Boxiang Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8034-1504)
- Long Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0615-4997)
- Tonghao Liu
- Liuying Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1701-9416)
- Wenhao Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4171-1821)
- Weiguo Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4789-821X)
- Haoyuan Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0629-9096)
- Gu Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-5419-0060)
- Shenghao Jin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2965-1918)
Institutions
- National University of Defense Technology (CN)
- Shanghai Jiao Tong University (CN)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- PLA Rocket Force University of Engineering (CN)
- Air Force Engineering University (CN)
- Hejian People's Hospital (CN)
- Institute of Engineering Thermophysics (UA)
- Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- ACS Energy Letters
- Published
- 2025-06-13
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenergylett.5c01153
- Citations
- 28
- Primary Topic
- Thermal Radiation and Cooling Technologies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 26.69
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality
- Education Department of Shaanxi Province
- Natural Science Basic Research Program of Shaanxi Province