Resilient Temperature- and Pressure-Sensitive Paints for Hyperspectral Imaging

The RESILIENT project will engineer mechanically durable and optically efficient coatings, which may be facilely applied as a photoluminescent paint useful for in situ detection and non-contact visualization of surface temperature and pressure. This non-invasive remote sensing technology will harness our recently discovered luminescent “Guest@MOF” composite materials, realised through the nanoscale confinement of fluorophores (as guest) incarcerated in the pores of a metal-organic framework (MOF as host). The resultant host-guest interactions give rise to high sensitivity, enhanced photostability, and tunable optical response subject to external stimuli. Temperature- and pressure-sensitive paints derived from Guest@MOF composites have many potential technological applications, for example: structural health monitoring, aerospace, automotive, hydrodynamics, biomedicine and consumer products. RESILIENT will de-risk this innovative technology through the construction and testing of proof-of-concept platforms guided by the industrial partners. The project will address the following objectives. (i) To engineer and deploy temperature- and pressure-sensitive paints (TSPs and PSPs) incorporating novel Guest@MOF composite systems coupled with hyperspectral imaging (HSI). Compared with conventional RGB detection of emission, HSI enables higher accuracy detection in real time for objects that are stationary or in motion. (ii) To systematically determine the performance of TSPs and PSPs, with respect to their optical sensitivity, mechanical durability, chemical and environmental stability. (iii) To establish real life functionality of TSP/PSP nanocomposite coatings, to accomplish fast and accurate surface measurements and enhanced photostability geared towards commercial applications.