Metamaterials for radiative sky cooling

• 来源期刊: 国家科学评论（英文版）
• 年，卷（期）: 2018,（2）
• 页码范围: 132-133
• 页数: 2页
• 语种: 英文
• DOI: 10.1093/nsr/nwy012

摘要

From fundamental thermodynamic considerations,in order to convert heat to usable work,it is important to have a heat source with a temperature that is as high as possible,and to have a heat sink with a temperature that is as low as possible.The vast majority of energy conversion processes at the moment use our ambient surroundings on Earth itself,with a temperature of approximately 300 K,as the heat sink.On the other hand,the universe,with a temperature of approximately 3 K,represents a much better heat sink.The ability to hamess the coldness of the universe could therefore have broad implications for energy technologies in general,and represents an important emerging frontier in renewable energy research.