Solar Paint Could Help Mother Nature and Change Home Improvement Forever

Researchers have made a major discovery that could simultaneously change the future of clean energy and home improvement. The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology recently shared a study that outlines the surprising way house paint could be used as a water vapor energy source.

Stay with us here: in the throes of their study, the RMIT researchers discovered a compound that can collect moisture from the air and split it into oxygen and hydrogen — a clean energy source. For whatever scientific reason, the compound, synthetic molybdenum-sulphide, then becomes stronger when mixed with titanium oxide, commonly found in paint.

In a statement with ScienceDaily, lead researcher Dr. Torben Daeneke explained, "Titanium oxide is the white pigment that is already commonly used in wall paint, meaning that the simple addition of the new material can convert a brick wall into energy harvesting and fuel production real estate."

The so-called solar paint can be particularly effective in hot climates near the ocean, where seawater and water vapor is plentiful. As Curbed reported, solar paint is still in an intermediate phase. Following their discovery, researchers will still need to figure out a long-term way to store the energy solar paint harvests. To learn more about the discovery with potentially global effects, watch the video ahead.