DOHA: Nanotechnology offers tangible benefits that aide engineers and architects to create sustainable buildings in Qatar that consume less energy, maintain their surfaces cleaner and protect them from ageing, according to Khaled Al Hamzawy (pictured), Managing Director, Subdivision Inc.
Nanotechnology refers to the scientific field, which deals with very small structures, usually sized below 100 nm - one nanometre (nm) stands for one billionth of a metre (10-9 m). Nano sized materials consist unique properties when compared to ordinary, bulk materials or even molecules. For example, in medicine nano-sized material can identify cancerous cells and deliver the desired drug only to them making drug delivery more effective and highly targeted.
Al Hamzawy said: “We most frequently focus on building insulation by reducing conductivity as described by a certain U-value. While such insulation is needed, one should closely observe how heat is transferred into buildings especially in the Gulf area: the sun radiates all around the day and the infrared radiation of its rays transfers heat onto our surfaces. In this manner, we most frequently observe that the temperature of our surfaces is much higher than the ambient air temperature. Nanotechnology comes in to solve a considerable part of this problem by creating paints that are highly reflective in the infrared zone where heat is transferred.”
While not visually affecting the appearance of the paint, such paints do not only reflect more than 94 percent of the infrared radiation, but even re-emit back into space most of the energy that they may have absorbed.
The Peninsula
