Chemistry
Document Type
Article
Abstract
The necessity to reduce global energy consumption calls for innovative strategies in building thermal management. Passive thermal regulation, particularly through bio-inspired designs, offers a promising avenue by mimicking nature's efficient control of optical properties. This research introduces a novel, climate-responsive coating that integrates optimized bio-inspired surface features with a solid-solid phase change material (SS-PCM) to dynamically manage solar absorptivity without adding additional thickness, enabling both heating and cooling as needed. Drawing on the photonic architectures of the Saharan silver ant and Morpho Didius butterfly, we employed a modeling and multi-objective optimization framework to tailor these surface features. Simulations reveal that surface texture, rather than the intrinsic phase transition of the SS PCM, dominates optical control. Relative to a flat SS PCM coating, optimized isotropic random roughness and broader range features yielded the highest passive heating power increase of about 144 % and 319 % respectively suitable for cold climates. Saharan ant-inspired features enhanced passive cooling for hot climates, achieving a 21.8 % improvement. For moderate climates, Butterfly-wing-inspired surface features provided a balanced enhancement of 19 % for heating and 7 % for cooling. Across all cases, the optimized surface features reduced combined heating and cooling energy demand more effectively than the baseline coating, while preserving material thickness. These findings demonstrate that climate-adaptive, optimized bio-inspired surface features can unlock the full potential of SS PCM coatings, providing a versatile pathway to significant energy savings in buildings and other applications. The methodology establishes a framework for designing next-generation adaptive envelopes that leverage natural photonic principles for high-impact, low-cost thermal regulation. © 2025 The Author(s).
Publication Title
Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells
Publication Date
2026
Volume
295
ISSN
0927-0248
DOI
10.1016/j.solmat.2025.114000
Keywords
biologically inspired, optimization, passive heating, passive radiative cooling, phase change materials, surface features
Repository Citation
Bousselham, Rajae; Xiao, Zhiying; Tao, Mingjiang; Granados-Focil, Sergio; Hera, Adriana; and Dessel, Steven Van, "A bioinspired approach for adaptive solid-solid phase change material coatings with optimized surface features for passive thermal regulation" (2026). Chemistry. 229.
https://commons.clarku.edu/chemistry/229
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Copyright Conditions
Bousselham, R., Xiao, Z., Tao, M., Granados-Focil, S., Hera, A., & Van Dessel, S. (2026). A bioinspired approach for adaptive solid-solid phase change material coatings with optimized surface features for passive thermal regulation. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, 295, 114000.
