Critical Need for this Technology

Cooling demand is rising quickly as summers grow hotter, and air conditioning is a major driver of peak electricity demand, straining grids in hot-climate states and raising costs for building owners. Roofs and other sun-exposed surfaces are a large part of the problem. Conventional white paints and roof coatings still absorb 15-30% of incoming sunlight, so they heat up their roofs and the buildings below. Darker surfaces are worse, and in cities they contribute to the urban heat island effect, which makes heat waves more dangerous for residents. Existing cool-roof options can reduce heat gain, but they cannot bring a surface below ambient temperature in direct sunlight. Vehicles face a similar challenge: standard automotive paint absorbs more than 30% of solar radiation, and in electric vehicles the energy spent on cabin and battery cooling directly reduces driving range. Meanwhile, cool-roof codes and reflectivity standards are tightening. There is a clear need for a low-cost, durable coating that delivers true sub-ambient cooling, requires no power or maintenance, and can be applied with existing painting equipment and manufacturing infrastructure.

Supplemental Need for this Technology

Beyond energy savings, passive cooling extends HVAC equipment life, improves heat resilience for occupants of buildings without adequate air conditioning, and protects temperature-sensitive cargo in trailers and containers. Reducing peak cooling loads also eases pressure on electric grids during heat waves and lowers associated emissions.

Competition

• Incumbent coatings makers (Sherwin-Williams, PPG, BASF, GAF): strong capital and distribution channels, but standard white coatings absorb 15-30% of sunlight and cannot cool below ambient temperature.
• Radiative cooling films and emerging radiative cooling paints (e.g., SkyCool Systems films at ~13% solar absorptance and $3-5/sq ft; Cryo-X coatings at ~4% absorptance and ~$1.95/sq ft; SRI International at ~96% reflectance): these validate the market but cost more and underperform NanoChill.
• NanoChill’s advantage: record-certified performance (~2% solar absorptance, 98.1% reflectance), protected by Purdue patent families and compatible with existing paint manufacturing lines, making it commercially competitive and twice as effective as alternatives.

Potential Markets

NanoChill is pursuing two beachhead markets served by the same core technology. The first is roofing: cool and reflective roof coatings are a $5-9 billion market growing 6-7% annually. The second is automotive: the global automotive coatings market exceeds $25 billion annually, and no production automotive paint offers radiative cooling today. The company is entering through motorsport validation and early conversations with automotive OEMs, where cooler vehicles means lower air conditioning loads and longer electric vehicle range. Adjacent markets include semi-trailers and refrigerated transport, shipping containers, data centers, industrial facilities and storage tanks, pipelines and energy infrastructure, and military and government buildings, all of which benefit from lower surface temperatures without added power.

Key Innovation

NanoChill’s barium sulfate and hexagonal boron nitride paints reflect up to 98.1% of sunlight, a Guinness World Record for the whitest paint, enabling surfaces to stay below ambient temperature in direct sunlight with no energy input.

R&D Status of Project

NanoChill’s core formulations are proven: the barium sulfate paint holds the Guinness World Record at 98.1% solar reflectance, and its lighter hBN formulation reaches 97.9%, both backed by Purdue patent families. The company completed a motorsport pilot and are now optimizing formulations for roofing and automotive substrates. Next steps are CRRC listing, heat-cycling and adhesion validation, and a hot-climate roofing pilot.

Team Overview

Dr. Emily Barber, CEO: Ph.D. from Purdue University (Mechanical Engineering) specializing in radiative cooling materials, former NSF Fellow, and current DOE LEEP fellow with Chain Reaction Innovations at Argonne National Laboratory. Leads commercialization, product development, fundraising, and partnerships.

Dr. Xiulin Ruan, Co-founder and President: Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University with more than 20 years of research in nanoscale and microscale heat transfer; inventor of the record-setting ultrawhite paint technology.

Technology Profile

Status: Early stage / pre-revenue; core formulations validated, pilot testing underway
Primary industry: Advanced materials and coatings (building and automotive)
Category (i.e. tech keywords): Radiative cooling, passive daytime radiative cooling, ultrawhite paint, barium sulfate (BaSO4), hexagonal boron nitride (hBN), cool roofs, energy efficiency, thermal management
Estimated annual revenue: Pre-revenue
Employs: 1.2 FTE
Social challenge: Extreme heat and energy use for cooling buildings and vehicles
R&D commercial collaborator: Purdue University / Purdue Research Foundation; Argonne National Laboratory (DOE LEEP / Chain Reaction Innovations)

We are looking for:

Mentoring: Yes
Funding: Yes
Commercial partnerships: Yes (manufacturing, distribution, and roofing/automotive pilot partners)
Customer identification: Yes
Testing and certification support: Yes (CRRC listing, durability and field testing)