Radioactive Paint That Can Replace Air-Conditioner Use

Ever since the discovery of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) as a root cause for Ozone layer depletion in the 1980s, the once-lauded compound became a nuisance. However, researchers at Purdue University may have come with a cost-saving alternative to using air-conditioners. The team has created a white paint which can allegedly keep surfaces up to 18ºF (10ºC) cooler than the ambient temperature. The newly-developed paint can help maintain a lower temperature, much like ACs, even under direct sunlight as they reflect more ultraviolet rays as compared to commercial white paint. While there are many commercial heat-rejecting paints available in the market, the researchers claim they fail to achieve temperatures below their surroundings as they reflect only 80%-90% of sunlight. Whereas they claim, their new paint can reflect 95.5% sunlight and even radiate infrared heat efficiently. The study continued for more than six years, and the first attempts of developing a radiative cooling paint as a feasible alternative to traditional air conditioners go back to the 1970s. The original pool of options had more than 100 different material combinations. They finally dialled it down to 10 and tested about 50 different formulations for each material. The final combination that worked for them relied heavily on calcium carbonate. Chemical sign CaCO3 – the compound is abundant on earth commonly present as chalk in rocks or seashells, etc.