Advanced Cooling Technologies

Recent extreme heatwaves have relentlessly swept across vast portions of the Northern Hemisphere, posing dire threats to human survival in regions afflicted by searing temperatures. These relentless heatwaves, their origins rooted in the perilous progression of global warming, are forecast to become more frequent and intense over time, especially in Saudi Arabia. This ominous trend has led to an increased demand for energy to power air conditioning systems, thereby burdening energy grids and resulting in frequent power disruptions. In particular, the higher ambient temperatures in the Kingdom impose more significant technical challenges to semiconductor devices such as solar panels, LEDs and high-power electronic devices, whose lifetime will degrade more rapidly due to thermal aging effects.

In response to this challenge, this research area objective aims to develop advanced passive cooling strategies to reduce the operational temperature and enhance the efficiency and lifetime of green optoelectronic devices (e.g., solar panels, semiconductor light emitting diodes and lasers) and explore strategies to address grand challenges faced by industrial partners including waste thermal energy storage and antidusting features.