May 2021
The whitest paint ever produced has the potential to assist in the battle against global warming. The paint has demonstrated it can reflect up to 98.1% of sunlight and cool surfaces by 4.5º C. The paint formulation includes barium sulphate which does not absorb ultra violet light and the compound has a 60% concentration of pigment particles of various sizes. The development was reported in the scientific journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces and it could potentially be commercially available in one or two years. The development team at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana is headed by Professor Xiulin Ruan.
Building coatings employing this paint could potentially cool them sufficiently to reduce the requirement for air conditioning. Such a paint would also reflect infrared heat away from surfaces.
Currently available commercial white paints become warmer rather than cooler, are capable of reflecting only 80%-90% of sunlight and cannot make surfaces cooler than their surroundings.
If you were to use this paint to cover a roof area of about 1,000 square feet, we estimate that you could get a cooling power of 10 kilowatts. That’s more powerful than the central air conditioners used by most houses,” said Professor Ruan.
Patent applications for the paint formulation have been filed through the Purdue Research Foundation Office of Technology Commercialization. This research was supported by the Cooling Technologies Research Center at Purdue University and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research through the Defence University Research Instrumentation Program
Rejigit’s previous article “A row has erupted over the Blackest Black”.
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