Science Wonder: Air Conditioning System Now Can Replace With Glass-Polymer Hybrid Material

In a major scientific breakthrough, an international team of researchers has successfully formulated a thin and economical material which can be replaced with air conditioning system. The new material is capable of cooling down a room, just like the air conditioning system works.  But the remarkable discrepancy of the new material is that it is capable of cooling down an atmosphere without using water and energy, while air conditioners used to consume a high amount of water and energy.

The glass-polymer hybrid material is fragile and also inexpensive in contrast to the existing air conditioning systems. The thin and cheap material can be an excellent replacement for air conditioning systems. With the aptitude to cool objects even under direct contract with sunlight, with the consumption of zero energy and water, this invention can pave revolutionary paths for the future scientific developments. As believed by the developers, the material can be an excellent eco-friendly method of complementary chilling of thermoelectric power plants.

In simple words, the thermoelectric power plants, which currently need extremely high amounts of electricity and water to uphold their machinery’s operating temperature can now switch their cooling option to glass-polymer hybrid material and enjoy more reasonable operational expenses. However, currently, the material is under development and scientists will take some more months to release it into the commercial market.

As highlighted by the researchers in their new paper, the thickness of the glass-polymer hybrid material measures only 50 micrometers, which is slightly broader than the aluminum foil used in kitchens. The material can be manufactured inexpensively on rolls and can be viably used in numerous large-scale applications, suitable for both residential and commercial sectors.

The scientists, for conducting the efficiency of the material applied the material to a surface under direct sunlight. Once applied, the ‘metamaterial film’ cools down the thing by efficiently echoing back the inward solar energy into the atmosphere, while simultaneously enabling the surface to lean-to its own warmth in the form of infrared thermal waves.

The development was held by Xiaobo Yin, assistant professor at the University of Colorado Boulder in the US and appeared in the academic journal “Science.”