By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept

Science, Space & Technology

Space Science Digital
Contact
Search
  • Home
  • Environment

    Icy moons’ puzzling features may be due to salty ice

    March 2, 2023

    Icy rain from Saturn’s rings heats its atmosphere

    March 30, 2023

    Is there a space race between the United States and China?

    April 16, 2023

    Rubin Observatory reaches major construction milestone

    May 8, 2023
  • Space Flight

    Launch day timeline for Relativity Space’s Terran 1 rocket

    March 8, 2023

    Mars rover sensors may not be sensitive enough to find signs of life

    February 21, 2023

    Axiom shows off Artemis moonsuits

    March 15, 2023

    Milky Way black hole: First picture was revealed in 2022

    December 22, 2022
  • Cosmology

    Can clouds of Moon dust help fight climate change on Earth?

    February 21, 2023

    These 5 impact craters highlight Earth’s wild history

    February 3, 2023

    Exploring Lava Tubes on Other Worlds Will Need Rovers That Can Work Together

    March 14, 2023

    JWST Sees Organic Molecules Swirling Around a Newborn Star

    March 21, 2023
  • Latest
  • About Us
Reading: MXene spray coating can harness infrared radiation for heating or cooling
Share
Aa
Space Science DigitalSpace Science Digital
  • Environment
  • Space Flight
  • Cosmology
  • Technology
Search
  • Home
  • Categories
    • Environment
    • Technology
    • Cosmology
    • Space Flight
  • More Foxiz
    • Blog Index
    • Forums
    • Complaint
    • Sitemap
Follow US
© 2023 Space Science Digital. All Rights Reserved.
Space Science Digital > Blog > Technology > MXene spray coating can harness infrared radiation for heating or cooling
Technology

MXene spray coating can harness infrared radiation for heating or cooling

By Aimee Daly March 30, 2023 8 Min Read
Share


Researchers at Drexel University have developed a layered, two-dimensional nanomaterial, called, MXene, that can be applied in a thin coating and harness infrared radiation for passive heating and cooling. Credit: Drexel University

An international team of researchers, led by Drexel University, has found that a thin coating of MXene—a type of two-dimensional nanomaterial discovered and studied at Drexel for more than a decade—could enhance a material’s ability to trap or shed heat. The discovery, which is tied to MXene’s ability to regulate the passage of ambient infrared radiation, could lead to advances in thermal clothing, heating elements and new materials for radiative heating and cooling.

The group, including materials science and optoelectronics researchers from Drexel and computational scientists from the University of Pennsylvania, recently laid out its discovery on the radiative heating and cooling capabilities associated with MXene in a paper entitled “Versatility of infrared properties of MXene” in Materials Today.

“This research reveals yet another facet of MXene materials’ versatility,” said Yury Gogotsi, Ph.D., Distinguished University and Bach chair professor in Drexel’s College of Engineering, who was a leader of the research.

“MXene coatings possessing exceptional abilities to contain or emit infrared radiation, while remaining extremely thin—200-300 times thinner than a human hair—lightweight and flexible, could find applications in both localized thermal management and large-scale radiative heating and cooling systems. There are significant advantages with passive infrared heating and cooling than traditional active ones, that require electrical power to function.”

MXenes are a family of two-dimensional nanomaterials originally discovered by Drexel researchers in 2011, that—because of their composition and two-dimensional structure—have progressively proven to be exceptional at conducting electricity, storing electrical energy, filtering chemical compounds and blocking electromagnetic radiation, among other capabilities. Over the years, materials scientists have produced and extensively investigated MXenes with various chemical compositions, resulting in the discovery of numerous applications.

In their recent paper, the team measured the ability of 10 different MXene compositions to help or hinder the passage of infrared radiation—a measure called “emissivity”—which correlates with their ability to passively capture or dissipate ambient heat.

“We knew from previous research that MXenes are more than capable of reflecting or absorbing radio waves and microwave radiation, so looking at their interaction with infrared radiation, which has a much shorter wavelength, was the next step,” said Danzhen Zhang, a co-doctoral researcher in Gogotsi’s lab and co- author of the paper.

“The advantage of being able to control the passage of infrared radiation is that we can use this type of radiation for passive heating—if we can contain it—or passive cooling—if we can dissipate it. The MXenes we tested showed that they can do both, depending on their elemental composition and the number of atomic layers.”

In comparison to the passive cooling materials available in the market today, which allow the thermal infrared radiation from the body—body heat—to escape through its lightweight and porous textile composition, MXene-coated textiles can do even better, according to Tetiana Hryhorchuk, a doctoral researcher in Gogotsi’s lab, and co-author of the research, because these coated textiles have the additional ability to reflect external infrared radiation, to avoid heating from sunlight, while also allowing the infrared radiation, emitted from the body, to pass.

The researchers found that niobium carbide MXenes could effectively dissipate heat while titanium carbide exhibited exceptional heat shielding, with its temperature rising only to 43 degrees Celsius after being heated for five minutes on a 110-degree hotplate.

“High emissivity like in niobium carbide is also possible in dielectric materials,” Gogotsi said. “However, MXenes combine this ability with electrical conductivity, which means these MXenes can also be used as active electrical heating elements with the supply of external power.”

A coating of titanium carbide MXene was found to strengthen materials against infrared radiation penetration and emission. In testing, the MXene-coated materials, even with a thin coating, performed better at shielding infrared radiation than polished metals, which are currently the best performing commercial materials. This means that MXenes could be integrated into lightweight clothing that keep the wearer warm in extreme environments.

To test it, the team dyed a cotton t-shirt with a titanium carbide MXene solution and used an infrared thermal camera to monitor the temperature of a person wearing it. The results showed that the MXene-coated shirt kept its wearer about 10-15 degrees Celsius cooler—about room temperature—than a person wearing a normal tee shirt.

These results suggest that MXene-coated garments are effective at maintaining body temperature, while also offering the advantage of being applied via a comparatively eaiser dip-coating process than most thermal clothing requires.

“Commercial thermal clothes use very thin polymer fibers with low thermal conductivity—fleece, for example,” said Lingyi Bi, a doctoral researcher in Gogotsi’s lab, with expertise in textiles. “They keep us warm by minimizing heat transfer through the fabric, to do this effectively they must be very thick. But MXene primarily keeps us warm by preventing the escape of the body heat as infrared radiation. Therefore, a MXene coating thinner than silk could provide effective warming. This is the same principle that is used in Mylar thermal blankets that runners get after a cold-weather race.”

Gogotsi suggests that the IR-blocking capability could also be used to camouflage people and equipment from thermal detection devices, or to covertly transmit information via radiofrequency identification codes visible only to infrared readers.

The team plans to continue studying the mechanisms underlying MXene’s IR block and emitting behavior, as well as testing MXenes with different chemical compositions to optimize their potential as radiative heating and cooling materials.

More information:
Versatility of infrared properties of MXenes, Materials Today (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.mattod.2023.02.024

Provided by
Drexel University


Citation:
Thermal paint: MXene spray coating can harness infrared radiation for heating or cooling (2023, March 30)
retrieved 30 March 2023
from https://phys.org/news/2023-03-thermal-mxene-spray-coating-harness.html

This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no
part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.



TAGGED: coating, cooling, harness, heating, infrared, MXene, radiation, Spray

Sign Up For Daily Newsletter

Be keep up! Get the latest breaking news delivered straight to your inbox.
[mc4wp_form]
By signing up, you agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe at any time.
Aimee Daly March 30, 2023
Share this Article
Facebook Twitter Email Copy Link Print
Leave a comment Leave a comment

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

SUBSCRIBE NOW

Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!

[mc4wp_form]

HOT NEWS

Launch day timeline for Relativity Space’s Terran 1 rocket

Space Flight
March 8, 2023

Is that this black gap jet making stars explode?

Again to Article Listing Greater than twice the anticipated quantity of novae have been discovered…

October 27, 2024

NASA Says Spacecraft Crash Test Successfully Changes Asteroid’s Orbit

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A spacecraft that plowed into a small, harmless asteroid millions…

October 11, 2022

World-Saving Spacecraft Passes Test

NASA says its DART spacecraft successfully shifted the path of an asteroid. For us earthlings,…

October 11, 2022

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

Staff develops transistors with sliding ferroelectricity based mostly on polarity-switchable molybdenum disulfide

Credit score: Yang et al. (Nature Electronics, 2023). Over the previous few years, engineers have been making an attempt to…

Technology
December 23, 2023

Meet the Infrared Telescopes That Paved the Method for NASA’s Webb

The Webb telescope has opened a brand new window onto the universe, nevertheless it builds on missions going again 40…

News
December 22, 2023

Unimolecular self-assembled hemicyanine-oleic acid conjugate acts to eradicate most cancers stem cells: Research

Schematic illustration of unimolecular self-assembled CyOA NPs enhanced phototoxicity to CSCs by implementing oxygen-economical PDT. Credit score: Analysis Most cancers…

Technology
December 22, 2023

Nanotechnology approaches for creating biodeterioration-resistant wooden

chematic illustration of methods utilized for growth of biodeterioration-resistant wooden. Credit score: Ayyoob Arpanaei a,*, Qiliang Fu a,b, Tripti Singh…

Technology
December 21, 2023
We use our own and third-party cookies to improve our services, personalise your advertising and remember your preferences.
  • Jobs Board
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Exclusives
  • Learn How
  • Support
  • Solutions
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Editorial Policy
  • Marketing Solutions
  • Industry Intelligence

Follow US: 

Space Science Digital

Welcome to spacescience.digital, A source for the latest news and developments in the exciting field of space science. Our blog covers a wide range of topics, from the latest space missions and discoveries to updates on technology and scientific breakthroughs. We are passionate about sharing the wonders of the universe with our readers and providing them with engaging and informative content. Join us on this fascinating journey as we explore the mysteries of space and the frontiers of human knowledge.

© 2024 Space Science Digital. All Rights Reserved.

Removed from reading list

Undo
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Lost your password?