Preparation and transparent heat insulating properties of aqueous acrylic–amino–alkyd coatings with CuS nanoplates

A novel aqueous transparent heat insulation coating (C–X–Y) with CuS nanoplates as solar heat insulating functional nanomaterial and acrylic-amino-alkyd baking varnish (AAA) as coating-forming material was prepared. The C–X–Y coating was applied to the surface of ordinary glass substrates. Those C–X–Y coated glass substrates have good transparency in the visible region (390–780 nm) and strong absorption in the near-infrared region (780–1750 nm). For instance, a 150 μm-thick C–X–Y coating with 1.0 wt% CuS nanoplates (C–1.0–150) can transmit 60% visible light and shield 80% near-infrared light. The stable temperature inside the box covered with the C–X–Y coating C–1.0–150 was 12.0 °C lower than that with the reference coating (without nano-CuS) under the irradiation of a 250 W infrared lamp. Based on their special characteristics, such as selective transparency in the visible region and selective shielding in the near-infrared region of solar light, the CuS nanoplates based transparent heat insulation coatings might have a potential application in architectures and vehicles for energy saving and environmental protection due to the unique optoelectronic properties of the CuS nanoplates.