Thermal Insulating Nano-Paint Generates Electricity
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles 
on 10. 3.07
As far as alternative energy schemes go, this one almost sounds too good to be true: Industrial Nanotech has just unveiled its nanotech-based line of thermal insulating paint, Nansulate, which - when properly applied inside of a structure's walls - promises to effectively generate electricity. The thin sheets of thermal insulation would use the temperature differential between the interior and exterior of the building to produce a near constant supply of electricity, since - as company CEO Stuart Burchill argues - "there is almost always, day or night and anywhere in the world, a difference between the temperature inside a building and outside a building gives us an almost constant source of energy generation to tap into."
It remains to be seen how well this technology works in practice; even if Burchill's claims only hold partially true, however, it could prove to be a big step forward in alternative energy production. We'll be eager to see the results.
Via ::SCI FI Tech: Paint: It keeps your lights on now, too (blog)
See also: ::Paint-on Solar Cells, ::Kelp Phlorotannins: Sunscreen and Boat Paint, ::Texcote - Solar Reflective Paint
Follow @TreeHugger on Twitter & get our headlines with @TH_rss!
Thirsty for more? Check out these related articles:
- Green Alternatives to Traditional Insulation
- Create an Eco Plan for Green Success: Follow Wa$ted!'s McGee Family Example
- We Love 5min.com for Simple DIY Solutions
- How to Repair a Chip or Star Crack in Your Automotive Windshield
- Did You Know Saving Water = Saving Electricity?
- Funky Reused Bottle Cap Necklace
Is this supposed to be an insulator or a conductor? This paint would have to let heat (energy) pass through (conduct) in order to do work with it.
So if it's cold outside and you have the (electric) heat cranked up inside, it will use the temperature gradient to generate electricity. But wait, the only reason there's a temperature gradient is because you're using the heater in the first place!
It sounds to me like this system actively brings both sides of the paint towards equilibrium which means making the inside of your house just as cold or warm as it is outside. As no system has a 100% return on energy, this system seems fundamentally flawed for use as an insulator. A better use would be for conductive applications - such as a computer case paint to transform waste heat from processors back into electricity.
Many crystalline materials and some plastics exhibit "pyro-electric" properties. One suitable put on as a coating with built in conductors, all that is needed is a simple heat flux to induce a current flow, albeit of very low voltage. Order of magnitude would be tenths to hundredths of a volt per output unit. The challenge is to step up the voltage to useful levels and deploy the energy for useful work without a heavy investment for current management. In other words, what would you do with the electricity?
Note: other common materials exhibit the piezo electric effect and some exhibit both pyro- and piezo-electric effects simultaneously.
Such a scheme as using the "nano" paint is fundamentally flawed from an EROEI basis for reasons mentioned by the other posers. I see this as being used to recover waste heat where it is abundant such as in car exhausts.
The biggest issue such an invention has against it is the transport of electricity. You could spray the outside of your house RIGHT NOW with a titanium dioxide based paint and it would be photo reactive and produce copious amounts of electricity.... good luck doing anything with it. The charge has to be transported to an electrical main which requires some sort of conductive lattice (whole thing can't be conductive because it will just ground out with whatever it is in contact with).
An insulated conductive charge transport lattice is the challenge, not the thermal/photo reactive material. Said materials are widely known and understood.
From the website linked by this news post:
"Nansulate® Translucent is a patented premium grade insulation and rust inhibitor material that is applied as a liquid (similar to paint) and dries to form a tough, durable, coating that reduces heat transfer and protects against corrosion. There is nothing else like it!"
I cannot find anything about the material producing electricity. It is simply a nano-scale insulator. It is not an entirely new concept. "Jet Hot" has been making a spray on coating for exhaust headers for years now that reduce heat transfer from the exhaust gas to the header by a factor of ten. Widely used in the enthusiast/race sector. Actually improves fuel economy by increasing cylinder scavenging in NA engines.
I've got a hard time imagining what their material is due to the transparent nature of their product. I know that there has been a fair amount of research into carbon fiber nano tube insulators using a "double back" design. Essentially a U shaped carbon fiber nano tube that terminates on both ends at the heat source. Carbon fiber nano tubes have a unique property in that they only conduct heat directionally. Off axis heat transfer is almost non existant.
If deposition techniques become sufficiently sophisticated (which they are not) such a material could rival aerogels.
Other methods have involved arranging CFNs at the nano scale such that their pores are sized to retain atoms of nitrogen (and larger gasses) while allowing smaller smaller gasses to pass through and out of the material. Conveniently, the smaller atom gasses, such as helium and hydrogen, have the highest specific heats and are thus the most thermally conductive.
Such a material is still a pipe dream, however. The cool thing about it though is that said pipe dream is only a single innovation away from becoming a reality. That is the razor upon which we balance in the nano world.