biostudies-literatureZhou KUnited States Department of Defense | United States Navy | Office of Naval ResearchUnited States Department of Defense | United States Navy | Office of Naval Research (ONR)1072https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC12852863biostudies-literatureUnknown17(1)Space cooling and lighting together consume 25% of global electricity, yet existing daytime radiative coolers are mostly limited to porous planar coatings that block visible light and lack durability. Here, we introduce rheology-optics coupling as a design principle that links polymer viscoelasticity to particle dispersion and optical scattering. Guided by this principle, we develop printable polydimethylsiloxane-zirconium oxide composites that achieve solar reflectance ( ~ 97.3%) and mid-infrared emissivity ( ~ 96.9%) comparable to the best reported values, despite a low filler loading of only ~4.5 vol.%. These scalable coatings provide up to 7.4 ^oC sub-ambient cooling and cut electricity use by 37% versus commercial paint in pilot-scale testing, while withstanding mechanical, Nature communicationsPrintable polymer nanocomposites for scalable and architected radiative cooling.PMC12852863N000142412050Reeser GMBraun PVCropek DMPatel DTang SCai LWu FZhou KKarua PHong SfalsePrintable polymer nanocomposites for scalable and architected radiative cooling.Space cooling and lighting together consume 25% of global electricity, yet existing daytime radiative coolers are mostly limited to porous planar coatings that block visible light and lack durability. Here, we introduce rheology-optics coupling as a design principle that links polymer viscoelasticity to particle dispersion and optical scattering. Guided by this principle, we develop printable polydimethylsiloxane-zirconium oxide composites that achieve solar reflectance ( ~ 97.3%) and mid-infrared emissivity ( ~ 96.9%) comparable to the best reported values, despite a low filler loading of only ~4.5 vol.%. These scalable coatings provide up to 7.4 ^oC sub-ambient cooling and cut electricity use by 37% versus commercial paint in pilot-scale testing, while withstanding mechanical, 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z2025 Dec2026-06-10T09:05:52.495Z2026-06-10T03:11:44.876ZS-EPMC128528634145569910.1038/s41467-025-67831-0