Full daytime sub-ambient radiative cooling in commercial-like paints with high figure of merit

Radiative cooling is a passive cooling technology by reflecting sunlight and emitting radiation in the sky window. Although highly desired, full daytime sub-ambient radiative cooling in commercial-like single-layer particle-matrix paints is yet to be achieved. Here we demonstrate full daytime sub-ambient radiative cooling in CaCO3-acrylic paint by utilizing the large bandgap CaCO3 fillers, a high particle concentration of 60% and a broad size distribution. Our paint shows high solar reflectance of 95.5% and high normal emissivity of 0.94 in the sky window. Field tests show cooling power exceeding 37W/m2 and surface temperature more than 1.7˚C below ambient at noon. A figure of merit RC is proposed to compare the cooling performance independent of weather conditions. The standard RC of our paint is 0.49, among the best radiative cooling performance while offering unprecedented benefits of the convenient paint form, low cost, and the compatibility with commercial paint fabrication process.