Create material that cool homes without electricity

Writing Area Leader

A team of engineers from the University of Colorado, the United States developed a metamaterial manufactured and expandable, with extraordinary properties not found in nature. The material acts as an air conditioning system for structures.

The news was greeted with jubilation in many parts of the world, it comes at a time when costs for electricity consumption rise steadily.

The comecialización of this new invention would become a very important solution for areas of extreme heat in Mexico, as is the border city of Mexicali, in Baja California, where during the summer the thermometer is about 50 ° C 
. 
The new material has the ability to cool objects even under direct sunlight without consuming energy or water. When applied to a surface, the film material cools beneath the object; efficiently reflecting incoming solar energy back outside.

Simultaneously, it allows the surface to expel its own heat as thermal infrared radiation.

It is a hybrid glass and polymer material; a little thicker than the foil we use. It can be manufactured economically in rolls, which makes it a technology that could be viable on a large scale for both residential and commercial applications.

"We believe this process low-cost manufacturing can transform real-world applications with this technology radiative cooling," said the co-director of research, Xiaobo Yin, assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at CU Boulder and Program Materials science and Engineering.

How does it work?

The material fail passive radiative cooling, whereby heat release objects naturally, without consuming energy.

Thermal radiation provides certain natural night cooling and is used for cooling residences in some areas, but the cooling during the day has historically been a challenge.

The authors of this material, solved the problem by incorporating glass microspheres dispersed and visibly fine silver coating for maximum spectral reflectance.

Besides being useful for cooling buildings and power plants; the material can also help improve the efficiency and lifetime of solar panels.

"Between 10 and 20 square meters of this material on the roof could cool in summer either a single-family home," said another example of the authors of this work, Gang Tan.

The material works 24/7, and could potentially be used in industrial plants, aerospace, agriculture and more.