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Project ID:

SCEN103

Actric Paint

Project Title:

Category:

Science & Engineering

Inventors:

Wan Yuan Yun, Agatha Ngee Hui Ci, Sew Wyn Chian, Wong Zhi Jia

Institution/Company:

SMK Dato' Jaafar

Invention Description/ Abstract:

At least 17,000 tonnes of food waste are sent into landfills every day in Malaysia according to a newspaper article “The Star: Malaysians continue to waste food” (Yuen Mei Keng, 2022. Statistics show food waste increased from 13,050 tonnes per day in 2017 to 17,000 tonnes per day in 2022. Not only that, the consumption of copper readily increased, from 1.5% in 2015 to 1.8% in 2021. We came up with a solution, whereby disposed fruit peels can be used to produce activated carbon that can be utilized as pigments for conductive paint. The conductive paint produced is intended to replace copper wirings used in domestic households. This project has won one silver medal in the 2019 Japan Design, Idea & Invention Expo and one gold medal nationally in InnEx 2019 and has been growing ever since. We used data from journal articles such as “Studies on graphite based conductive paint coatings. Progress in Organic Coatings, 55(1), 1–4.” (Azim et al., 2006) to obtain data on suitable binders as well as pigment to binder ratios for optimum conductivity. The final product is a mixture of glue and activated carbon. By utilizing fruit peels through producing this paint, food waste sent into landfills can be reduced by at least 6.2 million tonnes and the reliance on copper can be reduced by 55.62%. Once mature, this project would be able to benefit at least 15,000 people directly by providing them job employments.

Invention Technical Description

ACTRIC PAINT is a conductive paint that is made from activated carbon valorized from fruit peels, glue and water. ACTRIC PAINT allows electricity to flow through once it is painted onto a surface and dried. It can be used to replace copper wirings used in normal households. The paint is packaged in a 130ml glass bottle. It appears to be black with thicker texture compared to normal paint due to the activated carbon present in the paint. ACTRIC PAINT is produced mainly to reduce food waste that is being sent into landfills by utilizing it and reduce copper consumption to reduce mining activities. This project has won a silver medal internationally in the 2019 Japan Design ad Innovation Expo as well as a gold medal nationally in InnEx 2019.

One of the key ingredients for this product is activated carbon. Activated carbon is a form of carbon and has conductive properties due to the loosely bounded valence electrons of carbon. The conductivity of activated carbon obtained from coconut shells is electrical conductivity 2.36×10-8 ± 5.39×10-10 S/cm. It is used as a pigment in this product to grant the paint conductive properties. Not only that, activated carbon can be valorized from fruit peels and doesn't require mining activities for it to be obtained. For every 130ml of ACTRIC PAINT, 45g of activated carbon is used.

The other ingredient of ACTRIC PAINT is glue, which is a water-based adhesive. Once dry it forms a layer of polymer that are able to hold pigments together. Thus, it acts as a binder of the paint which firmly attaches the activated carbon to a surface and form a continuous film. For every 130ml of ACTRIC PAINT, 45g of glue is used. Water is also used in ACTRIC PAINT since it is a universal solvent and has low viscosity, which is 1cSt. It is used to dilute the paint to make it less viscous and easier to apply to surfaces. For every 130ml of ACTRIC PAINT, 13ml of water is used. By mixing these three ingredients together, ACTRIC PAINT is formed. By using a multimeter, the resistance of 4cm of ACTRIC PAINT is 12.8K ohm.

Demostration/ Presentation Video

Poster/ Broucher/ Invention Photo

Video Link

Poster Link

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