Amazing paint from nature

山东 田学苗

科学家们创造出了一种超轻、超韧的新型颜料。这种颜料的颜色与大多数油漆的颜色完全不同，它们更像是蝴蝶翅膀上的颜色。

Scientists at the University of Central Florida (UCF) have created a new kind of paint that's super light and super tough.The colors in the new paint aren't at all like those in most paints.Instead, they're more like the colors on a butterfly's wings.

The colors in most paints come from pigments—small amounts of colored stuff mixed into the paint.For hundreds of years, humans have been mixing different minerals, metals, or chemicals together to produce different colors of paint.

But nature has another way to create color, called“structural color”.Structural color comes from tiny shapes on the surfaces of things like wings, feathers, or shells.Normally, we never see the shapes that create these colors because they're so tiny.Now scientists have used nanotechnology (纳米技术) to make paint with structural color.

Because the new paint doesn't have pigments, the paint is extremely light.A little bit goes a long way.In regular paints,pigments break down and fade over time.That's not true for structural color.“Once we paint something with structural color, it should stay for centuries,”says Dr Chanda.What's more, the new paint doesn't heat up like regular paint.That's true even for darker colors.The new paint can keep surfaces up to 30 ℉(16.6 ℃) cooler than normal paint.Using the paint on buildings in cities could help cool cities and reduce the electricity spent on air conditioning.

Reading Check

Where does structural color come from?

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