Nanoparticles show significant potential for much stronger, tougher and durable coatings

Ongoing developments in nanotechnology has led to the creation of more cost-effective and efficient nanocoatings, enhancing market demand in the process

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While India was preparing for Chandrayaan-3 lunar rover's landing on the moon's south pole, marking a historic achievement, a research team from the University of Surrey was in the process of inventing a nanocoating that can reduce the operating temperatures of space-qualified structures from 120°C to 60°C.

The nano-coating, named the Multifunctional Nanobarrier Structure (MFNS), can be used alongside a spacecraft's sensors and advanced composite materials thanks to its custom-built, room temperature application system.

Professor Ravi Silva, a corresponding author of the study and Director of the Advanced Technology Institute at the University of Surrey, said: "Our new nanocoating is able to not only provide radiation and thermal protection but also harvest energy for use at a later date."

Spacecraft must account for huge variations of solar illumination and space radiation to ensure that their payloads work as designed. Spacecraft temperature is maintained by delicately balancing radiation and external weather with heat produced internally. 

Paolo Bianco, Global R&T Cooperation Manager at Airbus Defence and Space commented: "Our collaborative research with the University of Surrey has yet again proved fruitful with this latest development of a nanocoating to protect satellites in orbit."

Nanomaterials are no longer only the purview of expensive medical, satellite, or stealth bomber coatings. Rather, these tiny structures, thinner and more complex than the width of a single hair, have infiltrated applications where seemingly ordinary coatings are made stronger, more durable and more resilient with a wide variety of cleverly tailored characteristics for our ever-changing world.