Yangzhe Hou, Haoran Cheng, Yidan Yang, Wei Cai, Yamin Pan, Chuntai Liu, Changyu Shen, Jun Ma, Xianhu Liu
Developing passive radiative cooling (PRC) fabrics that combine high solar reflectance with desirable coloration, particularly purple, remains challenging due to the spectral trade-off between solar reflection and visible light absorption. Here, a "colored-white-colored" sandwich-structured metafabric is designed to balance aesthetic appearance and cooling performance. The fabric consists of spectrally selective purple skin layers and a highly reflective scattering core. The skin layers, composed of polyurethane (TPU) fibers and purple metal-organic framework ZIF-67, enable selective visible light absorption and enhanced mid-infrared emission, while the TPU/ZnO nanofiber core enhances broadband solar reflection through strong scattering. By spatially decoupling coloration and reflection, the fabric achieves a high solar reflectance of 90.6% and a mid-infrared emissivity of 94.6%. Outdoor tests show a maximum sub-ambient cooling of about 5.2 oC during daytime. Simulated and real-skin evaluations confirm superior personal cooling performance compared with commercial dyed cotton fabrics. The fabric also exhibits good moisture permeability and hydrophobicity, with a water vapor transmission rate of ~24.01 mg·cm-2·h-1 and a water contact angle of ~120o, which facilitates sweat evaporation and heat dissipation. This work provides a practical strategy for designing colored passive radiative cooling fabrics with aesthetic appeal, high visibility, and efficient thermal management.