Researchers at Columbia Engineering have invented a high-performance exterior PDRC [passive daytime radiative cooling] polymer coating with nano-to-microscale air voids that acts as a spontaneous air cooler and can be fabricated, dyed, and applied like paint on rooftops, buildings, water tanks, vehicles, even spacecraft -- anything that can be painted. They used a solution-based phase-inversion technique that gives the polymer a porous foam-like structure. The air voids in the porous polymer scatter and reflect sunlight, due to the difference in the refractive index between the air voids and the surrounding polymer. The polymer turns white and thus avoids solar heating, while its intrinsic emittance causes it to efficiently lose heat to the sky.
Journal Reference:
J. Mandal, Y. Fu, A. Overvig, M. Jia, K. Sun, N. Shi, H. Zhou, X. Xiao, N. Yu, Y. Yang. Hierarchically porous polymer coatings for highly efficient passive daytime radiative cooling. Science, 2018; eaat9513 DOI: 10.1126/science.aat9513
The new desert home paint?
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Friday September 28 2018, @09:34PM (1 child)
The title is the same. And, they put the Link. Which is the same.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday September 28 2018, @11:19PM
Probably Deja Vu from hearing it so many times on Star Trek.