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A Method for Extracting Pigments from Squid Doryteuthis pealeii

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Published on: November 9, 2016

Decapod-inspired pigment modulation for active building facades.

Raphael Kay^1,2,3, Charlie Katrycz⁴, Kevin Nitièma⁵

¹Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, M5S 3E4, Canada. raphael.kay@mail.utoronto.ca.

Nature Communications

|July 15, 2022

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

This study introduces adaptive building facades using pigmented fluids to control light and heat. This technology can reduce building energy consumption by over 30% compared to existing methods.

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Area of Science:

Building Science
Materials Science
Sustainable Architecture

Background:

Buildings are static and struggle with fluctuating temperatures and daylight.
Adaptive facades can improve energy efficiency and reduce costs.
Current solutions like electrochromic technologies have limitations.

Purpose of the Study:

To develop a novel adaptive building interface inspired by marine organisms.
To create a system for tunable optical transmission using fluid injections.
To reduce building operational energy for heating, cooling, and lighting.

Main Methods:

Developing pigmented fluids with tunable morphologies.
Utilizing reversible fluid injections within confined layers for optical control.
Employing multicell arrays for differential and dynamic building responses.
Conducting experimental and simulated approaches to validate the system.

Main Results:

Achieved locally-adjustable shading and interior solar exposure.
Demonstrated differential and dynamic building responses through fluidic reconfiguration.
Models showed potential energy reduction exceeding 30% for heating, cooling, and lighting.
Outperformed current electrochromic technologies in energy savings.

Conclusions:

The proposed adaptive facade system offers significant energy savings.
This fluidic approach provides a dynamic and efficient method for building climate control.
The technology shows promise for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the built environment.