Mexico. A reflective glass of zinc oxide that allows to reflect infrared radiation and thus reduce by two or three degrees Celsius the heat in a living space was developed by researchers from the Autonomous University of Tabasco (Ujat).
The researcher in charge of the project elaborated in the Division of Engineering and Architecture of the Ujat, Laura Lorena Díaz Flores, told local media that this study is a thin layer that is applied to a common glass of a house, building or vehicle, as if it were a nail polish.
"It is a liquid that at the moment it is deposited, being nanoparticles, it is embedded in the pores and irregular morphology of the same glass. Due to the effect of ambient temperature, it dries out and at that moment it acquires the characteristic that pores are closed and a transparent solid is generated," he explained.
That is, he continued, that the transmission of the visible is maintained, without shadows in the glass, but it will be able to reflect the heat that passes inside.
The researcher indicated that the ideal is that the glass does not absorb so much heat, but reflects infrared rays and reduces the transmission of heat to a room or inside vehicles, which in the case of Tabasco, with the hot weather, reaches high temperatures.
"Glass is ordinary, windowed, it is material that lets visible light through, a certain wavelength, but absorbs infrared radiation and then transmits it to the medium by a diffusion process," he noted.
The specialist confirmed that this application comes in liquid or aerosol form tested in prototypes that would be ready for commercialization in approximately two years.
