Cambridge University researchers have created an eco-friendly plant-based film, utilizing cellulose nanocrystals and reflective layers, that could cool buildings, cars and other structures without requiring excessive external energy.
Silvia Vignolini, Ph.D., the project’s principal investigator at Cambridge University , started the explanation with, “To make materials that remain cooler than the air around them during the day, you need something that reflects a lot of solar light and doesn’t absorb it, which would transform energy from the light into heat. There are only a few materials that have this property, and adding color pigments would typically undo their cooling effects.
But there’s a way to achieve color without the use of pigments. Soap bubbles, for example, show a prism of different colors on their surfaces. These colors result from the way light interacts with differing thicknesses of the bubble’s film, a phenomenon called structural color. Part of Vignolini’s research focuses on identifying the causes behind different types of structural colors in nature.
A square meter of the film generated over 120 Watts of cooling power, rivaling many types of residential air conditioners.
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