The world's whitest paint will help stop global warming

Whitest paint ever created by academic researchers to improve cooling

buildings and tackle the climate crisis.Representatives from Purdue University (USA) have invented a new formula for white paint. The substance they created reflects 98.1% of incident light, reports ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.  It is important that the paint remains cool, even when in direct sunlight. Scientists noted that it could be used to cover buildings: this would help fight global warming and reduce our dependence on air conditioners (they themselves are harmful to the environment).

The researchers said the paint could hit the market in a year or two.

Professor Xiuling Ruan, professor of mechanical engineering, with a paint sample. Photo: Jared Pike / Purdue University.

According to mechanical engineers, if you whitewashWith the new composition of 92.9 square meters of roof, it will be possible to achieve a cooling capacity of 10 kilowatts. During field tests, the team found that the painted surface remained cooler than the ambient temperature by at least 4.5 °C.

To develop white paint, scientists decideduse a new formula based on barium sulfate. It is found in nature in the form of the mineral barite and is used as a white paint pigment. To develop the new paint, the researchers looked for white materials with high reflectivity. Their previous paint was made from particles of calcium carbonate—a chemical compound found in chalk, limestone and marble—suspended in an acrylic paint medium. It turned out that the sulfate base can make the paint coating as reflective as possible, that is, the resulting paint is the whitest of all that exist in the world.

Infrared image shows how the sampleThe “whitest paint” (a dark purple square in the center) cools the board below ambient temperature. Photo: Joseph Peeples / Purdue University.

White painted roofs for centuriesused to cool buildings. Since global heating increases temperatures, this method is also used in modern urban buildings such as Ahmedabad in India and New York in the United States.

The whitest color means the paint can reflect the maximum amount of sunlight back into space, scientists say.

The authors of the development note that the paint is notposes a danger to eyesight. The treated surface reflects sunlight diffusely, so the energy going in any particular direction is not very strong. She just looks bright white, a little whiter than snow.

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