Synthesis of the solar heat reflecting membrane by duplicating the Saharan silver ant micro-hair structure

This project’s goal was to mimic the Saharan silver ant’s micro-hair arrays by creating a solar heat reflecting membrane with parallel-aligned Al-ZnO microrods using a Mayer rod coating method. The synthesis of Al-ZnO microrods was carried out using the hydrothermal method. The membrane was then produced by mixing the microrods with liquid silicone rubber and spreading the mixture into the shape of a membrane using a Mayer rod. The dragging of the Al-ZnO microrod, confined between the Mayer rod and the polypropylene film, induces the partial alignment of Al-ZnO microrods in the dragging direction. We note that the distribution of microrod alignment is well described by the Lorentzian function and that the full width at half maximum is measured to be 22.3°. Most Al-ZnO microrods are encased within silicone rubber. At wavelengths between 200 and 1100 nm, the membrane blocks light almost entirely. The solar heat gain coefficient of our solar heat reflecting membrane is 75% lower than the membrane containing commercial ZnO powder.