Dr. Mohammad Taha, University Of Melbourne: Nano Ink Can Be Applied To Building Electronics And Clothing

New inks use nanotechnology to control the temperature of the daily environment. Source: Dr. Mohammad Taha, University of Melbourne

The world's first "phase-change ink" can change the way we heat and cool buildings, homes and cars - to achieve complex "passive climate" control - has been developed, with great potential to help reduce energy use and global greenhouse gas emissions.

The new research, led by Dr. Mohammad Taha and published in the Journal of Material Chemistry of the Royal Society of Chemistry, recorded the concept verification "phase change ink", which uses nanotechnology to control the temperature in the daily environment. They can achieve this by adjusting their radiation according to the surrounding environment.

Dr. Taha said that these inks can be used to develop coatings to achieve passive heating and cooling, reducing the need for us to rely on energy creation to adjust temperature.

"Humans use a lot of energy to create and maintain a comfortable environment -- to heat and cool our buildings, homes, cars, and even our bodies," Dr. Taha said. "We can no longer only focus on the energy generated from renewable resources to reduce our impact on the environment. As the impact of climate change becomes a reality, we also need to consider reducing our energy consumption as part of our proposed energy solutions. By engineering our inks to respond to the surrounding environment, we not only reduce energy consumption It also eliminates the need for auxiliary control systems to control temperature, which is an additional waste of energy. "

Passive climate control will achieve comfortable living conditions without unnecessarily consuming energy. For example, in order to provide comfortable heating in winter, the ink applied to the exterior wall of the building can be automatically changed to allow more solar radiation to pass through during the day, and provide more insulation measures at night to keep warm. In summer, they can form a barrier to prevent heat radiation from the sun and the surrounding environment.

The multi-functional "phase-change ink" is a proof of concept that can be laminated, sprayed or added to coatings and building materials. They can also be incorporated into clothing to regulate body temperature in extreme environments, or used to create large-scale, flexible and wearable electronic devices and clothing, such as flexible circuits, cameras and detectors, as well as gas and temperature sensors.

Dr. Taha said: "Our research has eliminated the previous restrictions on large-scale and cheap application of these inks. This means that existing structures and building materials can be transformed. With the development of manufacturing, these inks can enter the market within 5 to 10 years. Through cooperation with the industry, we can expand the scale and integrate them into existing and new technologies as a solution to world climate change Part of the overall approach to energy challenges. The potential of this material is huge because it can be used for many different purposes - such as preventing heat accumulation in laptop electronics or on car windscreens. But the advantage of this material is that we can adjust its heat absorption characteristics to meet our needs. At present, a different type of phase change material has been used to manufacture smart glass, but our new material means that we can design more intelligent bricks and clothing coatings. This new nanotechnology can help transform existing buildings and make them more efficient. This is more beneficial to the environment and sustainable for the future.

This breakthrough was achieved by discovering how to modify vanadium oxide (VO2), one of the main components of "phase change materials". Phase change materials use triggers, such as heat or electricity, to create enough energy for the material to self transform under pressure. However, phase change materials need to be heated to a very high temperature before their 'phase change' characteristics can be activated.

Dr. Taha said, "We use our understanding of how these materials are combined to test how we can trigger the insulator to metal (IMT) reaction. In this case, the material basically acts as a switch to prevent heat from exceeding a specific temperature -- close to room temperature (30-40oC) 。 The next step will involve pushing the patent research of Melbourne University into production. "