A group of scientists working at Florida Central University, serving in the USA, started to produce a new type of paint with unique properties. The most important feature of the new type of paint, called “plasmonic paint”, is that it is much lighter than the paints we use today. Experts say this is especially important for greenhouse gas emissions.
Conventional paints are produced using color pigments. However, plasmonic dyes were produced by combining nanoparticles and forming them structurally. This technology has led to an extraordinary lightening of the paint.
A huge passenger plane can be painted with only 1.4 kilograms of plasmonic paint
*Application of plasmonic dye produced in laboratory environment on butterfly models.
If you want to paint the Boeing 747, which is among the largest passenger planes in the world, with traditional paints, you need approximately 455 kilograms of paint. However, this is not the case with plasmonic dye. The amount of paint required to coat the same aircraft is only 1.4 kilograms. Experts say that this type of paint can lead to a serious decrease in greenhouse gas emissions. As a result, the Boeing 747 will be about half a ton lighter thanks to the new generation paints.
So what’s the difference when it comes to houses? An average of 15 liters of paint is needed to paint a 100 square meter house. This means that 21.6 houses can be painted with 1 liter of plasmonic paint.
Lightweight is not the only advantage of plasmonic dye. As a result of the studies, it was determined that the objects on which this paint was applied remained cooler. Comparing with objects coated with traditional dyes, scientists found that objects coated with plasmonic dye were 13 to 16 degrees Celsius cooler. The researchers state that the houses to be covered with this paint will allow energy savings in the summer season.
It is possible to produce all colors with plasmonic dye. Because this paint is made up of colorless molecules.
Aluminum and aluminum oxide were used during the production of the plasmonic paint. The experts, who placed these colorless materials on the aluminum mirror in different geometric shapes, provided different color formations thanks to the differences in these geometric shapes. Experts, who adjust the pressure and temperature values of the environment in different ways in this process, say that any color in the universe can be created with this method.
While plasmonic paint technology is exciting, we are still at a very early stage to paint our homes. Experts say that producing this paint in the lab is too expensive, and they have to switch to large facilities and rework. If that happens, we could one day start using plasmonic dyes everywhere.
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