Temperature-adaptive VO2-based radiative cooling device for dynamic thermal regulation

Passive radiative cooling is a promising cooling technology that emits heat to deep space without energy consumption. However, the persistent overcooling phenomenon in static radiative techniques has raised concerns. Here, we propose a high-performance adaptive metasurface radiative cooling device composed of a simple sandwich structure (Ag/Si/patterned VO2). The simulation results of electromagnetic fields confirm that the VO2 metasurface induces multiple resonant modes, significantly enhancing the thermal emissivity of the temperature-adaptive metasurface radiative device. As the temperature changes, the average emissivity in the atmospheric window switches from 20.5% to 90.9%, with a low solar absorptance of 33%. When applied to electronics, this device not only prevents overcooling but also delivers a net cooling power of 69.71 W/m2 during daytime and 106.87 W/m2 at night, enabling efficient thermal dissipation for electronic components. In addition, the adaptive radiative cooler maintains stable selective emissivity under varying incident angles and heat transfer coefficients, meeting the complex installation environments of electronic equipment. This provides a maintenance-free thermal management solution for high-density electronic systems.