Radiative cooling–phase-change coupling for dynamic cold-energy management: From materials integration to heat-flow regulation

Passive radiative cooling (RC) offers near-zero-energy heat rejection, but its practical use is constrained by modest cooling power, climate-dependent performance, and the mismatch between nondispatchable cooling supply and dynamic thermal loads. Integrating RC with phase change materials (PCMs) enables the latent storage, controlled release, and regeneration of radiatively generated cooling capacity. This Review reframes RC–PCM systems as multiphysics thermal-management platforms governed by surface energy balance, temporal matching, interfacial heat routing, and thermal-resistance regulation. We examine how these principles drive material evolution from static laminates to hierarchical composites and adaptive multimodal architectures, and how device designs translate material functions into practical heat-flow topologies. Applications in buildings, smart textiles, electronics cooling, all-weather energy conversion, and emerging engineering scenarios are discussed with emphasis on load-profile matching and regeneration reliability. RC–PCM performance depends not only on optical selectivity and latent heat but also on how these properties are coordinated with the phase-change temperature, heat-transfer kinetics, interfacial resistance, and operating conditions. Particular attention is given to nighttime and winter overcooling, condensation, frosting, and the roles of latent and sensible thermal storage and adaptive optical–thermal regulation in enabling year-round performance.