Development of Cellulose-based Radiative Cooling Textiles for Agriculture

In this project, cellulose-based radiative cooling textiles will be developed for agriculture application. The textiles will provide radiative cooling effect to soil and plant, resulted in a lower surrounding and soil temperature, lower requirement in watering and higher crop yield. Polymer matrix of cellulose-based materials and microparticles will be developed as a dope for fiber spinning. Radiative cooling fabrics constructed by the spun fibers will be used as soil cover, which provide energy-free radiative cooling effects. Various fabrication parameters will be studied to balance the materials usage, mechanical and optical properties of the radiative cooling textiles. A field test of the setup will be conducted on citrus fruits, the cellulose-based radiative cooling fabric will be evaluated in terms of soil temperature, soil moisture and plant's temperature. This project aims to develop a new method for temperature management in agriculture by integrating textile technologies. The radiative cooling textiles will be constructed by non-toxic, sustainable and bio-degradable materials. The setup can be used in extreme hot environment, such as 2022 heatwave in China.