Flexible thin film optical solar reflectors with Ta2O5-based multimaterial coatings for space radiative cooling

Abstract

Optical Solar Reflectors (OSRs) combine low solar radiation absorption (α) and high broadband infrared emissivity (ε) and are applied to the external surface of spacecraft for its thermal management. Bulk glass OSR tiles are the incumbent, but ultra-lightweight and thin-film flexible OSR coatings are raising considerable interest for both space and terrestrial radiative cooling applications. In this work, a genetic algorithm combined with a transfer matrix method is used for the design and optimization of multimaterial thin-film OSRs for broadband radiative cooling. The algorithm simultaneously optimizes the spectral performance of the OSR at two parts of the wavelength spectrum, solar (0.3–2.5 μm) and thermal infrared (2.5–30 μm). The designed optimized OSR structure consists of 18 alternating layers of three materials, SiN, SiO2, and Ta2O5, on top of an Al mirror backreflector, with a total thickness of only 2.088 μm. The optimized multilayer stack contributes distributed Bragg reflections that reduce the residual solar absorption below that of an uncoated Al mirror. The optimized OSR is demonstrated experimentally on a 150 mm (6 in.) Si wafer and on a flexible polyimide substrate using a production level reactive sputtering tool. The fabricated thin film OSR shows good thermal-optical property with α = 0.11 and ε = 0.75 and achieves a net cooling power of 150.1 W/m2 under conditions of one sun total solar irradiance in space. The ultrathin coating fabricated using hard inorganic materials facilitates its integration onto flexible foils and enables large-scale manufacture of low-cost OSRs for broadband radiative cooling applications.