Korean research team develops cooling paint with 97% solar reflectance

2023. 10. 20. 14:03
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Lee Heon, professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Korea University
A South Korean research team has developed a cooling paint with the world’s highest solar reflectance rate of about 97 percent, allowing less energy use for cooling buildings.

According to the research team headed by Lee Heon, professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Korea University on Thursday, the cooling paint has the world’s top-level radiative cooling capabilities.

The team focused on paint exposed to direct sunlight on building exteriors. It applied a principle of using a particle mixture composed of boron nitride particles and alumina particles in the paint to scatter solar energy.

It said that the choice of particles significantly affects the solar reflectance performance and that its paint outperforms those developed by other research institutions.

The team also incorporated the radiative cooling effect into the paint.

Radiative cooling is a phenomenon in which more radiative energy is emitted than incoming radiative energy, leading to a fall in temperature as the excess heat is released.

The paint developed by the research team achieved an infrared emittance rate of up to 90 percent in the range of between 8 and 13 micrometers (μm).

Infrared radiation is not absorbed by the atmosphere but escapes into space. The radiative cooling effect was confirmed to lower temperature by 10 degrees compared to the surrounding air temperature.

“The newly developed paint performs effectively even with a thin coating of 120 μm,” Lee said. “We will prepare for further empirical studies with Qatar University and start an on-campus venture to commercialize the paint in earnest.”

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