In face of the energy crisis and global warming challenges

the development of cooling technologies without additional energy input or equipment assistance is of great practical importance. Daytime radiative cooling (DRC) has been proven to be an effective coping strategy

which depends on materials with a high reflection in the solar spectrum and high emission in the atmospheric window. Owing to the wealthy functional groups

high emission in the atmospheric window of polymers can be achieved. Various preparation techniques of polymers make the large-scale production of different application scenarios more potential. Therefore

polymer-based daytime radiative cooling materials (PDRC) are gaining more and more attention. This review firstly introduces the design principles of DRC materials including selecting materials with high reflection in the solar spectrum or high emission in the atmospheric window according to the absorption spectrogram

designing the material structure

and reducing non-radiative heat transfer to achieve the radiative cooling effect. From the perspective of structural design

the effects of the polymer/metal film laminated structure

polymer bionic structure

polymer/micro-nano-particle distribution structure

and porous polymer structure on P-DRC performance are discussed and emphasized in their advantages and disadvantages. Finally

the current status of P-DRC materials in building cooling and personal thermal management are reviewed

and their future development directions are foreseen.