Ultra-black coatings and ventablake-like paints Has gained a lot of attention in recent years. Now what the world needs is cooling (we’ve hit an unprecedented point in global warming), and new white paint developed by Purdue University engineers can help.
CN Supplied by CNET
Purdue researchers Ziulin Ruan (left) and Joseph People showing infrared cameras on white paint samples on the roof. Purdue University Photo / Jared Pike
Purdue said in a statement this week that the paint reflects 95.5% of sunlight and can “keep the surface 18 degrees Fahrenheit colder than the area around them.” It’s something that commercial heat-reflecting white paint couldn’t achieve.
The researchers published their findings in the journal Cell Reports Physical Science.
“Mainly because sunlight heats ceilings and walls and makes the interior of your home feel warm. Your air conditioning kicks in. This paint basically creates free air conditioning by reflecting that sunlight and compensating for those heat benefits from inside your home.” Study author Joseph Peoples.
Developing paint was a multi-year process that involved many tests of various paint formulations. Primarily as a component, the team eventually struck up calcium carbonate (a compound found in chalk, limestone and the Seychelles).
CN Supplied by CNET
The radiative cooling paint developed at Purdu appears purple on the left, showing a lower temperature in direct sunlight than the commercial white paint sample on the right. Purdue University Image / Joseph Peoples
Engineers compared the new paint to commercial white paint by looking at samples with infrared cameras. The radiative cooling paint appears purple in the image, indicating that it stays cool in direct sunlight.
Load error
The team is waiting for the future where the paint can be applied to houses, roofs, cars and even roads. It can help reduce the demand for energy-hungry air conditioning in buildings.
“Paint will send heat not only away from the surface, but also from Earth into deep space where heat travels at the speed of light indefinitely. In this way, heat in the atmosphere will not be trapped and will contribute to global warming,” Purdue said.
The project is a new entry into the field focused on developing cooling materials, coatings and paints. A passive cooling film, created by researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder, does the same thing by dissolving heat and cooling substances in the atmosphere at lower temperatures, like Purudu paint.
Urd Purdue University Photo / Jared Pike
Purdue researchers Ziulin Ruan (left) and Joseph People showing infrared cameras on white paint samples on the roof.
The team is also investigating whether it can create other colors with similar cooling properties. Now the new paint just needs a compelling name like Vantablake. How about Winterhite?
In the UK, Suri NanoSystems unveiled a nanotech material called Vatoblake in 2014 to make a lot of fanfare and spinal jokes. It became known as one of the black-black materials ever created. At the time, Surrey Nanosystems described Vantablack as “revolutionary in its ability to apply lightweight to temperature-sensitive structures, while the phenomenon absorbs 99.96% of the radiation. Most recorded.” Surrey has continued to improve Vantablake and also explored how to make a light specification coating as a spray. Since then it has attracted everything from wristwatch faces to high-end vehicles.
Surrey Nanosystems is located in the UK. Getting your hands on Ventablake is not easy. “Only tested companies, research facilities and educational institutions can order a sample of Vantablake,” the company says.
One of the best ways to appreciate the amazing effect of Vantablake is to see two see objects side by side, one of which is normal and the other is drawn from the material. For example, you can use it in a telescope to help the instrument see very orbiting stars.
The original Vantablake is made from carbon nanotubes. The material is highly hydrophobic, so water only collects on it in a dot or scatter.
There is not a single carbon nanotube material out there. The properties of the new CNT material introduced in 2019 were illustrated by MIT in a diamond painting for an art project in partnership with artist-in-residence Diamond Strab. Coated diamonds are on the right. The MIT team said its material reflects less light than previous material, making it a new darker black material.
This 2020 BMW X6 looks like it has been forged out of complete darkness. BMW unveiled the SUV with the Ventablack paint job for the Frankfurt Motor Show in August August 2019. Unfortunately, BMW has no plans to disclose this paint scheme to the public.
Here’s a look at the rear end of the 2020 BMW X6 SUV painted in Vantablack.
The crushed piece of foil is a great display of Vantablake’s properties. You can see how the foil is scratched, and yet the painted section just looks empty and featureless.
Swiss watchmaker MCT Watches teamed up with artist Anish Kapoor to create the S1110 Evo Ventablake, which has been described as “the first watch featuring the darkest material produced by mankind”. The carbon-nanotube paint appears on the paint dial and on one end of the minute hand, giving the watch an air of mystery as it moves forward.
Luxury Watchmaker H. Moser definitely knows how to make an amazing wristwatch. This Venturer concept watch has a ventablack dial that seems to absorb the same time. There is absolute beauty to this approach. “Neither with logos or indicators, the effect is underestimated. This new dial takes pride of place, at least making a statement of luxury that is immediately recognizable,” the watchmaker wrote.
Believe it or not, these are two identical sculptures of a man’s head. The left side is drawn from the non-spray-version of Vantablake, making it difficult to create 3D features.
This side view of the ventablake-painted face sculpture shows how the sculpture looks like it looks about 2D from any angle.
British architect Asif Khan had a brilliant idea to paint the pavilion in Vantablake. The Hyundai-sponsored building also stood during the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyongyang, South Korea. “Filled with a cloud of thousands of glowing LED lamps, it creates a three-dimensional illusion of the universe,” Hyundai said in a release. The Hyundai Pavilion received the Bronze Lion Award for Creativity at the 2018 Cannes Lions International Festival.
In 2018, gaming company Activis will find a creative way to connect the game network to the war game Call of Duty. For the introduction of the Black PS4, Activation in Survey Nanosystems was called in to help create a room with an inner coat in Vantablack. By removing all distractions, gamers were able to experience the Black PS4 in a room with only light coming from the empty screen.
UK body spray company Lynx announced in 2015 that it could make a special VF Wantablack for its deodorant. Without links branding it will be difficult to figure out what it is. A links marketing video called it “the closest thing most people would see peeking into a black hole.”
If you’re hateful about not being able to order Vantablake paint for your own projects, there’s a decent option: Black 3.0 from Culture Hustle. The company describes the product as “earthy black and metastatic acrylic paint”. It can be applied with a brush and it still absorbs up to 99% of visible light. It’s not Vantablake, but it’s amazing in its own way.
