[La Tribune] OliKrom makes non-toxic paints that light up cities at night
A breakthrough innovation, LuminoKrom, the paint developed by OliKrom in Bordeaux Métropole, boasts an impressive array of assets. Easy to recharge with light and inexpensive, this paint is already used by the aeronautics and space industries, and is set to make its mark on roads and cycle paths.
(This article is taken from T La Revue n°13 - "Energies, la France qui innove" currently on newsstands).
Paint that also recharges with headlights
"I already had luminous materials with very good properties, but in 2016 nobody was interested in them. It was an order from Eiffage Route, looking for a new luminous solution for road safety that was resistant to weather and wear, that got OliKrom off the ground. This luminous paint has no equivalent. Sure, you can find color-changing materials on the Internet, but it's really for geeks," says the chemist.
He goes on to explain that his revolutionary innovation, to be named LuminoKrom® in 2019 and marketed from 2020, "is the only photoluminescent road paint on the market capable of lighting up at night for ten hours" (class G certification/ISO 17398 standard guaranteeing 10 hours' visibility). "LuminoKrom® can be recharged whatever the weather, even in forests," begins Jean-François Létard, before going on to explain that this paint draws its energy from the entire light spectrum, including ultraviolet rays.
« Même les phares des voitures, même la lumière de la lune, même celle des smartphones permettent de participer à la recharge lumineuse de LuminoKrom® » martèle le patron
from OliKrom. The components of the luminous paint developed by the company are of natural origin and non-toxic, says the manager. On the road, despite tire abrasion, the paint lasts for almost three years, says OliKrom's CEO, a time reduced to six months on traffic circles, but extended to five years in city centers, as in Pessac. The move towards greater energy sobriety, with public lighting switched off at night, potentially paves the way for LuminoKrom ® .
https://www.latribune.fr/entreprises-finance/industrie/energie-environnement/olikrom-fabrique-des-peintures-non-toxiques-qui-eclairent-les-villes-la-nuit-954797.html