Radiative Cooling Paint

About Radiative Cooling Paint

• It is developed from a novel MgO-PVDF polymer nanocomposite.
• They used ultra-white and ultra-emissive magnesium oxide (MgO)-polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) nano-composite prepared from materials that are earth abundant, cheap, non-toxic and non-harmful.
• The optimized MgO-PVDF with dielectric nanoparticles resulted in large solar reflectance of 96.3% and a record high thermal emission of 98.5% due to Mg─O bond vibrations, and other stretching/bonding vibrations from the polymer.
• The researchers developed polymer nanocomposite paint by using a simple solution-processed technique.
• By measuring the temperature of the paint using a thermocouple, excellent cooling performance was demonstrated under hot sunlight.
• The nanocomposite paint exhibited water-resistant hydrophobic properties and can be easily coated on pavers, wood sticks and so on with high uniformity and good adhesion.
• The surface temperature of a treated paver decreases by approximately 10°C under intense sunlight-- almost double of the reduction that conventional white paints give.
• This low-cost, solution-processed paint demonstrates significant cooling capabilities with a high solar reflectivity and infrared thermal emissivity. 

What is Radiative cooling?

• It is a passive cooling technology without any energy consumption, compared to conventional cooling technologies that require power sources and dump waste heat into the surroundings.

Q1) What are Polymers?

Polymers are large molecules composed of repeating structural units, which are called monomers. These monomers are covalently bonded to form a long chain or network. The process of linking these monomers together is known as polymerization

Source: JNCASR researchers develop radiative cooling paint to cool building structures