Engineers Produce 'World's Whitest Paint' in Thinner Version Perfect for Cars, Planes

The world's whitest paint, which can reflect almost 98% of incoming sunlight and has enormous potential in terms of energy efficiency for buildings, was created last year by Purdue University engineers.

But now, the ultra-white paint is better than ever.

After making some adjustments to the recipe, the team has created a lighter and thinner version, which they claim is suited for usage on cars, trains, and airplanes, as reported first by New Atlas.

Ultra-White Paint

The original ultra-white paint contained barium sulfate, a chemical component also found in photographic paper and cosmetics, which gave it its superior capacity to reflect sunlight.

This was added to the mixture in the form of particles with variable sizes and light scattering abilities, allowing the paint to reflect a wider range of sunlight.

The material's reflectivity of 98.1% was significantly higher than the 80-90% reflectivity of heat-reflecting paints that are typically sold commercially.

The team tested outdoor surfaces and discovered that the paint might dramatically reduce surface temperatures relative to their surroundings and potentially offer cooling effects comparable to those of conventional air conditioners.

However, the paint had several drawbacks.

According to Xiulin Ruan, the paint's creator, the team needed to apply a layer of paint at least 400 microns thick in order to achieve this amount of radiative cooling below the surrounding temperature.

However, he noted that this would only be suitable for sturdy stationary structures, like the roof of a building. The paint needed to be thinner and lighter for applications that entailed precise size and weight requirements.

Hence, a new recipe was created by Ruan and his colleagues. The new material, which is composed of hexagonal nanoplatelets of boron nitride, has layers that are only 150 microns thick and has a solar reflectance of 97.9%, somewhat less than the original.

Thinner and Lighter

This new paint weighs about 80% less because it is thinner and has a lower density.

George Chiu, a mechanical engineering professor at Purdue, said that this small weight "opens the doors" to all types of applications, especially on the exterior of cars, trains, and airplanes.

The researchers claim that they are currently in talks to commercialize their paint since they have already filed for patents for the invention.

It is worth noting that the ultra-white paint has even gotten recognition by the Guinness World Record for the "whitest paint" in the world! The paint may leave the surface significantly cooler than the surrounding air because conventional paint is known to warm up the surface.

If the paint's commercialization proves to be a success, it might also play a significant role in the fight against climate change. This could also be a more cost-effective way to help the environment compared to the $15 million worth of carbon-sucking machines.

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by Joaquin Victor Tacla