Energy-saving reflective paints don’t typically offer vibrant colours, but a thin film that can be made in bright colours can still keep cars cool.
at Shenzhen University in China and his colleagues designed a thin film to act similar to energy-saving reflective paints that are already on the market, but which don’t typically offer as many vibrant colours as traditional paints.
Their film is a few micrometres thick and has three layers. The top layer is made from a compound of titanium, silicon and oxygen, while the two underneath it are a special frosted glass and a thin silver mirror. The glass layer has myriad tiny structures that give it a frosted look and mimic the butterfly wings.Absorbing light increases a material’s temperature, so the researchers designed the layers to diffuse light to create a cooling effect.
Wang and his colleagues made film samples in several colours including red, green and blue then exposed them to sunlight for about 7 hours while monitoring their temperature.
The films also kept their colour even when viewed from the side, something that Wang says is unusual for artificial nanostructures that manipulate light.. “This coloured, thin film could significantly reduce the energy consumption of electric vehicle air conditioning, thereby increasing the vehicle’s mileage,” he says.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Gold flakes glow when they are bathed in light and now we know howShooting powerful lasers at thin gold flakes has revealed how the precious metal generates its own faint glow – and might help us better control chemical reactions used in energy storage
Read more »
Insight: World battles to loosen China's grip on vital rare earths for clean energy transitionThe world's two biggest rare earths companies outside of China are facing challenges turning rock from their mines into the building blocks for magnets used across the global economy.
Read more »
Ukraine Fights To Build More Resilient, Renewable Energy System in Midst of War - CleanTechnicaNREL Is Providing Tools and Technical Support To Help Ukraine Realize a Resilient, Decentralized, Renewable Energy Grid
Read more »
US to turn Cold War era atomic bomb sites into clean energy production arenasChina has been commissioning large-scale projects in clean energy and the US needs to ramp up the execution of new projects to catch up.
Read more »
After pushback to electric vehicle charging plan, Xcel Energy proposes rebates for others to build stationsAfter getting pushback to its plan to build out electric vehicle chargers, Xcel Energy-Colorado is proposing to offer rebates to private businesses that want to build their own charging stations. h…
Read more »
Bitcoin Is 'Big Barbie' EnergyBarbie is an entrepreneur, a role model and likely – no matter what Margot Robbie says – a fan of Bitcoin who knows the value of financial independence and self-empowerment, aubreystrobel writes. Opinion.
Read more »