This paper is aimed at studying the coupling effect of thermochromism and surface microstructure on the spectral properties of structured surfaces. We prepare the samples of structured surfaces of perovskite-type manganese thermochromic materials by patterning one-dimensional gratings and two-dimensional cavity arrays by means of the photolithographic technique. Experiment on radiative properties of these samples indicates that the emittance of the structured surfaces dramatically increases compared with that of the bulk thermochromic materials. It is demonstrated the adjustable emittance range of the thermochromic materials can be effectively enlarged by designing the surface morphology. This implies a novel approach for improving the thermochromic effect of the perovskite-type manganese materials. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.