New ‘super white’ paint reflects 95.5% of light from buildings and...

Scientists say they created a new super white color that reflects 95.5 percent of the sunlight that hits it.

The new acrylic, developed at Perdue University, stays significantly cooler than the ambient temperature, both day and night.

The team designed the paint with calcium carbonate fillers to minimize the amount of ultraviolet light that the paint absorbs instead of standard titanium dioxide particles.

Researchers say and could be used to naturally keep buildings cooler, thereby reducing the climate change caused by air conditioning and other cooling technologies.

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To develop a commercially viable paint that passively cools, Xiulin Ruan, professor at the Purdue School of Mechanical Engineering, used calcium carbonate fillers to minimize the amount of ultraviolet light the paint absorbs.

During the test, the new acrylic stayed 10 ° C below ambient at night and at least 1.7 ° C lower when the sun was at its peak.

Others ,Heat emission ‚ white colors only reflect around 80 to 90 percent of visible light and cannot reach temperatures below the ambient temperature.

According to a study published in Cell Reports Physical Science this month, the calcium carbonate-based acrylic outperformed commercial color when examined under infrared.

The new acrylic could be used to naturally keep buildings cool. “This paint can even be used to combat climate change, as it repels sunlight and emits heat into space,” says Xiulin Ruan (left), professor at the Purdue School of Mechanical Engineering

“Our paint is compatible with the manufacturing process for commercial paints, and the cost can be comparable or even lower,” says Ruan. “The key is to make sure the paint is reliable so that it is suitable for long-term outdoor use.”

According to Ruan, the paint has many uses including preventing telecommunications equipment from overheating outdoors.

“This paint can even be used to combat climate change as it repels sunlight and emits heat into space,” Ruan said in a statement.

The calcium carbonate-based acrylic outperformed other “heat repellent” whites when examined under infrared and was the only one that reached sub-ambient temperatures

His team will continue to test the fabric to measure its resistance to dust, water, detergents, and other substances.

Other researchers who want to claim the “whitest white” have looked at the polar bear fur and the wings of the Cyphochilus beetle.

The competition for vibrant, unique colors is intense across the board.

Chemical engineer Walter Liew is serving a 15-year prison sentence for stealing Dupont’s recipe for an exclusive titanium white process.

T-Mobile has sued small businesses for using magenta, which it allegedly bears a trademark, and art supplies maker Daniel Smith bought the last remaining quinacridone gold in 2001.

In 2014, the artist Anish Kapoor arranged an exclusive license to use Vantablack, which at the time was considered the “blackest black” color on the market.

Other artists criticized Kapoor for monopolizing the hue and painter Stuart Semple developed “Pinkest Pink” and “Blackest Black” and welcomed everyone but Kapoor to buy them.

In 2019, researchers at MIT covered a diamond worth $ 2 million with the supposedly “blackest black” known to man

“I called sh – y elitist behavior by color criminals because nobody should be able to own color!” He told Fad Magazine.

In April Semple announced that he had created “the whitest white” color that reflects up to 99.6 percent of visible light.

He’s still refining White 2.0, but promises to make it available to anyone who isn’t a “color criminal”.

Last year, MIT scientists announced that they had created “the blackest material ever made.”

It absorbs 99.995 percent of the light compared to Vantablack, the previous “blackest black,” which absorbs 99.965 percent of the light.

To demonstrate the opacity of the unnamed substance, the researchers covered a $ 2 million diamond with it, turning the precious gem into a flat, black void.