{"id":43314,"date":"2023-03-08T18:26:28","date_gmt":"2023-03-08T19:26:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peymantaeidi.net\/stem-cell\/?p=43314"},"modified":"2023-03-08T19:36:09","modified_gmt":"2023-03-08T19:36:09","slug":"nanotechnology-paint-provides-brilliant-colour-that-doesnt-fade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peymantaeidi.net\/stem-cell\/2023\/03\/08\/nanotechnology-paint-provides-brilliant-colour-that-doesnt-fade\/","title":{"rendered":"Nanotechnology paint provides brilliant colour that doesn't fade"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Adjusting the distance between nanoparticles creates different colours<\/p>\n

Pablo Cencillo-Abad, Daniel Fran<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A nanotechnology paint inspired by a butterfly\u2019s wing<\/a> is so lightweight that using it on a Boeing 747 could cut the plane\u2019s mass by half a tonne.<\/p>\n

A paint\u2019s colour normally comes from pigments, which are molecules that absorb certain wavelengths of light and reflect the rest. Some of these pigments can be environmentally polluting, difficult to remove and they can fade over time, especially in extreme heat or under prolonged sunlight.<\/p>\n

Now, Debashis Chanda<\/a> at the University of Central Florida and his colleagues have designed a pigment-free paint that instead uses flakes of aluminium nanoparticles that trap and resonate certain wavelengths of light, just as certain wavelengths of sound can resonate a wine glass. The trapped wavelengths are akin to the absorption in pigments, giving the nanomaterial a characteristic colour.<\/p>\n

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This phenomenon is structural resonance, which also gives colour to a butterfly\u2019s wing. \u201cThe colour is not based on any molecule which absorbs light, it\u2019s simply the structural arrangement of colourless materials,\u201d says Chanda.<\/p>\n

To make the paint, Chanda and his team used a beam of electrons to deposit aluminium nanoparticles on a mirror of the same material. The distance between these particles, which is set by how quickly the particles are deposited, determines the wavelengths of light that they \u201cabsorb\u201d, with the leftover wavelengths being the colour of the paint. This means Chanda and his team can easily choose the paint\u2019s colour.<\/p>\n

The team then flaked these nanoparticle sheets and mixed the flakes with linseed oil to make paint. A coat of the paint only needs to be 150 nanometres thick, making it incredibly lightweight. A Boeing 747 covered with this would require just 1.3 kilograms of paint instead of 500 kilograms for regular paint, says Chanda.<\/p>\n

The paint is also highly reflective, so could be used to keep cars or homes cool, and the lack of pigment means it won\u2019t fade.<\/p>\n

The optical effects of these nanostructures have been demonstrated in the laboratory for decades, says John Pendry<\/a> at Imperial College London, but making paint with them is new. \u201cThe achievement that these guys have done is to take these known effects and realise them in a pretty standard industrial process,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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