New ”solar paint” can make your house a clean source of energy
A team of researchers from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) has developed a ”solar paint” that can be used in homes for generating clean energy.
The scientists managed to combine the titanium oxide that already exists in many wall paints with synthetic molybdenum-sulphide, a new compound. This makes the paint absorb solar energy and moisture from the air, being able to then split the water into hydrogen and oxygen, collect the hydrogen for use in fuel cells or for powering a vehicle.
“[T]he simple addition of the new material can convert a brick wall into energy harvesting and fuel production real estate,” explained lead researcher Torben Daeneke.
loading...
Despite the fact that Daeneke does not expect the paint to become commercially viable in the next five years, he is hopeful that the end product will have low production costs. Moreover, he stated that the paint will be suitable for plenty of environments, from the moist ones to the hot and dry ones. “Any place that has water vapor in the air, even remote areas far from water, can produce fuel,” he says.
The paint would maximize the capability of homes to generate clean energy and can be used on any surface that is suitable for painting, from fences to doghouses.
Loading...