An LCA-assisted hierarchical design of radiative cooling coating for full life-cycle CO₂ reduction.

Abstract

Reducing CO₂ emissions throughout a product's life cycle, mainly encompassing four stages of raw materials extraction, processing, service, and end of life, is essential for carbon neutrality. Passive daytime radiative cooling coatings offer CO₂ reduction benefits, but primarily only during service stage. Life cycle assessment demonstrates maximized full life-cycle CO₂ reduction requires innovations in both raw materials extraction and service periods. Here, we develop a full life‑cycle carbon‑negative passive daytime radiative cooling coating, achieving 0.571 ~ 13.709 tons of CO₂-equivalent reduction per ton over its lifespan across all climate zones compared to the commercial reflective cooling baseline, equivalent to planting 32 ~ 762 trees annually. The key to this is sodium dodecyl sulfate-induced hydromagnesite fillers, produced via scalable CO₂ mineral sequestration, which mitigate emissions in raw materials extraction stage. Moreover, the durable polyvinylidene fluoride resin envelops the above fillers with a hierarchical spherical-like structure, providing high optical characteristics and service stability, thus achieving service-stage emissions reduction. This work converges life cycle assessment, material design, and CO₂ mitigation technology, building a powerful platform for carbon-negative radiative cooling coatings and relevant materials, while also inspiring more advancement in sustainable technologies for resilient urban futures.