Paint is not just paint anymore. Smart coatings are a subset of advanced coatings and may be defined as coating materials that are capable of adapting their properties dynamically to an external stimulus. The term “smart” refers to the concept of coatings being able to sense the environment and make an appropriate response to that stimulus.

Their emerging and potential uses are legion. Smart coatings help in reducing the need for air conditioning and heating within buildings and cars. Thermochromic coatings have heat-reflective properties that change according to temperature. A window painted with a thermochromic coating can switch from heat reflection during warm weather to heat absorption during winter. Coatings also can be used to capture energy during the day, before releasing it as electricity or heat at night.

Smart coatings are sensitive to external stimuli such as electricity and gas. This allows them to change color on command and to warn of electricity malfunctions or gas leaks. Electrical-conducting smart coatings have created the possibility of TV screens that can be painted onto walls. Smart coatings with enzyme-based additives may detoxify nerve gases and leaked pesticides.

Smart coatings with deliberately fading colors could also be used to indicate when a new coating needs to be applied. Easily removable coatings for the decoration and protection of products, ranging from household appliances to winter sports equipment, are also available. Smart coatings that recognize when they are damaged and that are capable of repairing themselves have been developed. Such a smart coating would release repair components from built-in, micro- or nano-sized “containers,” which would release a repair fluid into the damaged area and then cure and cover the damage.

Road safety can be improved by the sense-and-respond properties of smart coatings, by automatically changing the color of a road into something brighter as darkness descends. The development of luminescent smart coatings that absorb sunlight during the day and release it during the evening will improve car safety.

In the near future, smart coatings will also have health and hygiene functions. Coatings embedded with antibacterial polymers will kill bacteria in hospitals and the home. Smart coatings with absorption properties could be used to remove cigarette and other unpleasant smells, and dust-repellent properties could ensure increased hygiene.

Smart coatings play an important role in disguising and hiding objects for both military and nonmilitary purposes. All combat vehicles are coated in camouflage colors, and stealth bombers are hidden by their radar-absorbing coatings. The ultimate development of smart-coating technologies may create the real possibility of both machine and soldier being made invisible to the naked eye.

Table 1 indicates the global market for various types of emerging coating technologies. Nano-coatings/smart coatings account for the major share of the market for emerging coating technologies (Table 2).

Infrared Reflective Pigments

One smart coating industry trend is the use of infrared reflective pigments. The Shepherd Color Co., founded in 1980, produces complex inorganic color pigments for coatings in the building and construction, automotive, and aerospace markets. BCC Research sat down with a spokesperson of The Shepherd Color Co. to discuss these pigments and other industry trends.

BCC: Where do you see the industry in 5 to 10 years in terms of product offerings, technology, challenges and outcomes?

Shepherd: The industry faces continued increases in the importance of sustainability and what that means. This applies to different attributes in the coatings industry, from raw material sourcing and production methods, to reduced energy demand due to coatings performance properties, to reduced life-cycle-costs and increased recyclability. ‘Black Swan’ events like COVID-19 show how the way we do business and new focus like antimicrobial and air-quality can change quickly.

BCC: Can you brief us up about your infrared reflective pigments — how do they work and what environmental benefits do they provide?

Shepherd: IR reflective pigments balance aesthetic and performance requirements by taking advantage of our vision being sensitive to only half of the sun’s wavelengths. While a white paint reflects all the sun’s energy and a standard black paint absorbs all or most all of the sun’s energy, IR reflective pigments in paint absorb in the visible part of the sun’s spectrum for dark, pleasing colors, but reflect the invisible infra-red portion of the spectrum. A standard black reflects 5%, while an IR black reflects 25% of the sun’s energy. This leads to lower surface temperatures, which in turn, can reduce the amount of energy absorbed by a building and may reduce cooling costs and energy usage, and promote longer lived materials through less thermal degradation and expansion-contraction cycling. This IR reflective property of Complex Inorganic Color Pigments (CICPs) is inherent in their chemistry and does not wear out or degrade over time.

BCC: How has COVID affected your company, and its productivity and focus?

Shepherd: COVID impacted the business depending upon the customer, the business segment in which they operate and where in the world they are located. Since we serve the building and construction, automotive, aerospace, general industrial, and consumer markets, different areas were affected in different ways. We responded to COVID quickly and decisively to protect our staff primarily. Consequently, there has been only a minor effect on productivity, and production has not been halted. Our focus remains the same, with continued customer and commercial excellence.

What Does BCC Research See Ahead?

• New coating technologies are being developed, reducing the total cost of coatings while abiding with newer environmental regulations, which are becoming stricter. One of the main emerging technologies is nano-based coatings.
• Nano-coatings/smart coatings are opening up new market opportunities. Properties such as anti-microbialism, thermal insulation, dirt and water repellency, hardness, corrosion resistance, flame retardancy, UV stability, graffiti resistance, self-cleaning ability, moisture absorption, gloss retention, and chemical and mechanical properties are improved significantly using nanostructured materials.
• The global market for nano-coatings/smart coatings in 2019 was nearly $7.5 billion. Product innovation and the need to meet stringent environmental regulations are driving market demand across a wider range of markets. Global revenues for nano-coatings/smart coatings in 2026 are estimated to reach nearly $12.1 billion, with an expected CAGR of 9.1% over the five-year period from 2021 to 2026.
• The market for nano-coatings/smart coatings will grow across all sectors over the next five to 10 years, within the medical, electronics and displays, interior and exterior household coatings, and food-processing markets, among others. All of these segments are experiencing significant growth, pushed by the vast improvements that nano-coatings/smart coatings offer. The military market will remain the largest market, with anticorrosion coatings increasingly applied. Anticorrosion coatings and super hardness will also drive revenues in the oil and gas industry for protective surfaces in pipelines, in harsh environments and on drilling equipment.

Global Trends You Can Bank On

• In 2019, the global coatings market was worth nearly $157.7 billion. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has played havoc with the expected market in 2020, bringing it down to $118.3 billion.
• The market is expected to increase to over $158.6 billion by the end of 2021.
• With the end of the pandemic, the market is expected to bounce back and reach over $203.8 billion by the end of 2026, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.1% over the five-year period from 2021 to 2026.

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Related BCC Research Reports:

AVM129A UV-Cured Resins: Technologies and Global Markets.

CHM014P Flame Retardant Chemicals: Technologies and Global Markets.

CHM075B Automotive Coatings: Technologies and Global Markets.

CHM051B Powder Coatings: Materials, Technologies and Applications.

PLS077B Epoxy Resins: Applications and Global Markets.

CHM049F Global Markets and Advanced Technologies for Paints and Coatings