Carbon pigment11/15/2023 ![]() ![]() If further improved, I am convinced such technology can play a role in reducing carbon emissions and having a global impact.” This study makes a step towards commercially relevant solutions. Lukas Schertel, a light-scattering expert at the University of Cambridge, UK, who was not part of the research team, said: “Using paint for cooling is not new but has still a high potential to improve our society, as it is widely used. It just looks bright white, a bit whiter than snow.”Ī patent for the paint has been filed jointly by the university and research team, which is now working with a large corporation towards commercialisation: “We think this paint will be made widely available to the market, in one or two years, I hope, if we do it quickly.” Ruan said the paint was not a risk to people’s eyesight: “Our surface reflects the sunlight diffusely, so the power going in any particular direction is not very strong. They have also tested the paint’s resistance to abrasion, but said longer-term weathering tests were needed to assess its long-term durability. They claim the paint would be similar in price to current paints, with barium sulphate actually cheaper than titanium dioxide. The researchers said the ultra-white paint uses a standard acrylic solvent and could be manufactured like conventional paint. ![]() “The radiation can go through the atmosphere, being directly lost to deep space, which is extremely cold,” said Ruan. The barium sulphate paint enables surfaces to be below the ambient air temperature, even in direct sunlight, because it reflects so much of the sun’s light and also radiates infrared heat at a wavelength that is not absorbed by air. Their previous whitest paint used calcium carbonate – chalk – and reflected 95.5% sunlight. Ruan’s lab had assessed more than 100 different materials and tested about 50 formulations for each of the most promising. The amount of light scattered by a particle depends on its size, so using a range scatters more of the light spectrum from the sun. Third, the pigment particles were of varied size. ![]() Second, a high concentration of pigment was used – 60%. First, barium sulphate was used as the pigment which, unlike conventional titanium dioxide pigment, does not absorb UV light. Three factors are responsible for the paint’s cooling performance. The new paint was revealed in a report in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. Ruan said painting a roof of 93 sq metres (1,000 sq ft) would give a cooling power of 10 kilowatts: “That’s more powerful than the central air conditioners used by most houses.” Photograph: Joseph Peoples/Purdue University An infrared image shows how a sample of the ‘whitest paint’ (the dark purple square in the middle) cools the board below ambient temperature. ![]()
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