Professor Debashis Chanda and his pupil from the University of Central Florida’s Nanoscience Technology Center were experimenting to produce a continuous aluminum mirror when they accidentally stumbled upon the recipe for the lightest paint in the world. The team became frustrated when they discovered small clumps of aluminum atoms disrupting their mirror. They found that the light hitting the atoms caused the electrons in the metal to vibrate, and depending on the size, it emitted different wavelengths of light that created colors. Chanda noticed this phenomenon was akin to how butterflies get their color, so he and his team began to embrace this challenge, manipulating the aluminum and aluminum oxide particles until they constructed plasmonic paints.

Plasmonic paints take the cake for being the lightest in the world because of their astounding temperature and weight. The plasmonic paint completely reflects the infrared spectrum, making it 25-30 degrees cooler than conventional paint, which Chanda believes may give it the potential to alleviate global warming and energy costs. According to him, the paint attains full coverage at a thickness of 150 nm and could paint a Boeing 747 with only 3 pounds of the paint! Additionally, they will not fade in the sunlight like pigment-based paints, saving the time and money used to restore regular paint. Chanda is dedicated to exploring his creation's characteristics and using them to reduce energy usage, cool urban areas, and improve our quality of life.