Passive cooling systems use simple low-cost techniques to provide summer comfort in warm climates and can also be used to keep food, liquids and other materials at temperatures below ambient. Radiative cooling devices require a convective shield that should reject solar radiation but be transparent to mid-IR thermal radiation. In this paper, chemical solution deposition of thin semiconductor films (PbS and PbSe) onto polyethylene foils for radiative cooling applications is described. Optical and structural characterizations of the films were performed using UV-Vis, FTIR spectroscopies, X-ray diffraction and electron microscopy. Additionally, pigmented shields, which exhibit good radiation scattering properties, were prepared by incorporation of ZnS or ZnO into polyethylene. We also studied a combination of pigmented polyethylene foils coated with thin films of PbS that show improved optical properties for cooling purpose. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.