Looks like, we finally have an alternative to glass. This new material is transparent but respects privacy and promises a green future.Scientists at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany have developed a self-cleaning metamaterial that has the potential to replace glass in walls and roofs.increase the natural light a building receives during the daytime and reduce energy consumption. However, they also have several limitations.
In their new study, the KIT team claims that their newly developed metamaterial called PMMM, can overcome all such limitations. The researchers conducted lab and outdoor tests to check the cooling ability of their material. “Throughout the test, the temperature of the PMMM was consistently lower than the ambient temperature,” the researchers said.
The metamaterial is able to achieve all of this because of the micro-size pyramid that forms it. These pyramids are made of silicone and have a thickness measuring one-tenth of human hair.