How to make paint more visible in the dark. DIY glow-in-the-dark paint

Do you want to replenish your collection of impressions without leaving own home? For example, learn how to make glowing water, paint or shoelaces? Then experiment with us.

A liquid that sparkles in the dark always looks fascinating. It seems that such a miracle can only be found in a scientific laboratory or in the room of an ancient alchemist. However, we know how to make glowing water at home and with pleasure we will tell you about all the nuances of this amazing process.

Before we start making water that glows, we should learn the safety rules. After all, the main chemical substance that you will have to work with is luminol crystals. It is they that, when interacting with certain oxidizing agents, produce a glow, which is necessary. When interacting with reagents precautions should be taken.

Children conduct similar experiments in the presence of adults.
It is necessary to wear protective equipment: rubber gloves, an apron, and in some cases a gauze bandage to protect the face and respiratory organs.
When working with chemicals, they should not be inhaled, tasted or allowed to come into contact with the skin.

However, an experiment to obtain a luminous liquid does not always require enormous effort. We will teach you how to do glowing liquid from improvised means, that is virtually no chemicals.

Making sparkling liquid: the easiest way

This method, in which we will create a glowing liquid without luminol, is completely elementary. What does that require:

water;
3% solution of hydrogen peroxide, which is contained in every first aid kit;
table salt, which is present in every home;
vinegar.

Mix all the ingredients until you get a liquid with a glow.

DIY glowing liquid without luminol

For this method we also need the most common components.

500 ml sparkling water;
1 teaspoon of soda;
3 teaspoons of peroxide.

Mix everything for 10 minutes.

How to make holy water with the addition of luminol?

And this method already requires application chemicals. You can do it liquid that will have a blue tint. To repaint it a different color, use fluorescent dyes.

So, to create the magic liquid we will need:

2-3 grams of luminol;
80 ml peroxide;
100 ml water;
3 grams copper sulfate;
10 ml of sodium hydroxide solution;
fluorescent dyes.

Let's begin an experiment that will give us an incredible glowing liquid.

Step 1. Mix luminol and water in a glass container.

Step 2. Add hydrogen peroxide to this solution.

Step 4. And at the last stage - caustic soda.

If we couldn’t find all these reagents, let’s do glowing liquid based on washing powder.

Prepare 20 ml of washing powder solution in a tall glass.
Add 10 ml peroxide.
Pour 5 ml of 3% luminol solution.
Grind a few crystals of potassium permanganate and add to the container.

Be careful: the liquid tends to foam and produce sparks.

Besides these simple ways, we have a few in store for you interesting videos about how to make water with a glow.

How to make glow paint: bright magic in the dark

The next stage of our incredible experiments is paint that glows in the dark. We will make this miracle using phosphor. This miracle powder, which transforms energy into a bright glow, can be purchased at a specialty store or online.

To get 1 kg of paint that glows, you need to mix 250 grams of phosphor and 750 grams of varnish.

There are other ways to prepare magical glowing paint.

To get purple paint you will need:

calcium carbonate – 10 g;
magnesium carbonate – 0.6 g;
sulfur – 3 g;
sodium sulfate – 0.5 g;
potassium sulfate – 0.5 g;
sucrose – 0.5 g;
bismuth nitrate (0.5%) – 0.5 ml.

Mix the components and heat at high temperature– 800 degrees for 45 minutes.

If you find it difficult to obtain any of the ingredients of this experiment or you cannot remember the name of this or that reagent, we offer you a way so that you can prepare a phosphor and use it to create glowing paint.

For this method, you only need to purchase pine extract and powdered boric acid.
We dilute the pine concentrate in a small amount of water. You will get a yellowish liquid called tartazine.
Now we dilute 1/3 spoon of boron powder in water until a creamy mass is formed.
Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring and piercing the bubbles.
Cool the mass, combine it with tartazine and heat everything up.
Boil this mixture, stirring, until a bright yellow powder forms. This is a phosphor.
It can be mixed with paint or varnish, or diluted with water.

Such luminous paint, created at home, completely safe for you and your health. It can be used to treat any surface: applied to plastic, wood, and even your own body. This paint can be used in a room on the walls to make them glow in the dark or applied to any object, creating unusual compositions. This is a wonderful idea for both indoors and outdoors. Fluorescent paint will give you a festive mood and a lot of impressions.

How to make glowing laces: a fantastic look for stylish shoes

The easiest way to get glowing shoelaces at home is dip your regular shoelaces in glowing paint. You learned how to prepare it above. However, such an accessory will stop glowing after two washes. Therefore, we will tell you about another way to make luminous laces with your own hands.

You will need:

silicone tube (about 2m), with a diameter that matches the diameter of the laces;
4 LEDs different colors;
tube of liquid silicone;
4 miniature batteries.

Let's move on to the process of making the lace.

We divide the tube into 2 equal parts (1 m each).
Fill the pipe cavity with liquid silicone.
At each end of the pipe we attach one LED using a soldering iron.
Don't forget about correct location LED: the light bulb is inside and the wires are outside.
We secure the batteries by soldering them to the wires or fixing them between the wires with glue.
Take tweezers and carefully fix the battery between the wires. If you want the laces to glow only in the evening, make a small switch that will block the contact.

If you don’t want to waste time on all these manipulations, order yourself glowing ones from Aliexpress or any other service. We wish you bright impressions!

Luminous objects have become a fashionable part modern interior. In the past few years, luminescent jewelry can be seen not only in nightclubs, but also in the homes of many ordinary people. Glowing toys and decorations will make holidays, family feasts and children's games bright and memorable. It's hard to imagine a child who doesn't like luminous things.

The basis for making luminous paint is a substance called phosphor. It can be purchased at specialty chemical stores or ordered online. This is powder yellow color, which creates a blue glow in the dark. It can be combined with colored dyes and eventually get paint of any shade. At the same time, it is important to ensure that the added color does not overpower the main composition and the coloring does not affect the quality of the glow of the powder.

To prepare 1 kilogram of paint, you need to take 250 grams of this substance and mix it with 750 grams of transparent varnish. The type of varnish is selected depending on what you will paint. For furniture you will need construction varnish, and using clear nail polish, you can give yourself a glowing manicure. Using phosphor on nails or skin is not harmful to health.

This paint will glow less intensely than purchased paint. In order for the glow to be brighter, before darkness sets in, the painted item should stand in the light as much as possible, absorbing Sun rays.

If everything works out with the paint, try a more complex chemical experiment - creating glowing water. Recently, containers with such water have become fashionable and are used to decorate rooms.

In order to make glowing water you will need the following substances: 2 grams of luminol, 80 milliliters of hydrogen peroxide, 100 milliliters of water, 3 grams of copper sulfate, 10 milliliters of sodium hydroxide solution and fluorescent dyes of different colors.

Pour water and stir luminol in it until completely dissolved, add hydrogen peroxide, then copper and sodium. The mixture will be ready instantly and when the light is turned off, the container will begin to glow blue. If you want to give the liquid a different shade, use additional dyes. At home, you can easily get a glowing liquid of all the colors of the rainbow.

If you can't find an ingredient, there is another recipe option. Mix 0.15 grams of luminol, 35 grams of dry alkali, 30 milliliters of dimexide and 500 milliliters of water. Another method: combining 20 milliliters of washing powder, 10 milliliters of hydrogen peroxide, 5 milliliters of luminol, a few grains of potassium permanganate and 200 milliliters of water.

Phosphor- a substance capable of converting the energy it absorbs into light radiation. The color of the glow can be different and depends on the light filter applied to the surface of the phosphor or its impurity. Photo phosphor is a powder that has the property of glowing in the dark after being exposed to natural or artificial light.

To make the phosphor we need pine concentrate and boric acid.

We need to buy not “pine extract” at the pharmacy, but “pine concentrate”, because it contains a bright yellow dye, tartrazine (E102). The top pair of blue balls in its molecule is a chromophore (capable of receiving and emitting light) group -N=N- of two nitrogen atoms connected by a double bond. This ability is due to the fact that the -N=N- fragment can be in two positions and the transition energy between them is absorbed/emitted in the form of light.

In addition, this group is connected on one side to a benzene ring of six carbon atoms, and on the other side to a nitrogen-carbon ring and another benzene ring. This chain is a kind of corridor in which electrons can “run”. The permissible energies of such a run and

determine the color of the radiation.

Despite the fact that we understand how the dye molecule works, it is not yet obvious how it forms a phosphor - a molecular photobattery - with boric acid. Do it yourself and experiment.

Pour (or pour if you bought liquid) pine concentrate into a glass.

Pour in a little water to create an aqueous solution of tartrazine.

Pour boric acid into a spoon

Wet with dye solution

Stir to wet all the acid.

Boil until it reaches this state. We pierce the resulting bubbles with something sharp to ensure good heating of the entire mixture.

Cool, add more dye solution and boil the melt again. You will get a homogeneous yellow substance.

Walk along Manezhnaya, Istorichesky or Dvortsovaya on a dark summer evening. You will meet at least a dozen sellers with these incredible LED toys, especially for children. Or go to any office supply store, they will definitely offer you glow sticks (and no more light bulbs!). And this glowing paint for flowers!

So, is it any wonder that luminous paint and varnish products are becoming more and more popular.

Let's awaken our imagination and learn not to be disappointed

And the point is this. A special phosphor-based pigment is added to the paint, which is capable of accumulating light in the light and releasing it in the dark for quite a long time. There are several types of such self-luminous paints.

Classification

The following types of paints are distinguished:

special luminous paints for metal surfaces – perhaps it all started with them, with the desire to paint their car so incredibly that the light would produce an even greater effect during night races through the streets;
glowing paints for fabrics– these are popular in the textile industry;

surfaces– this is almost “hot” for the construction industry, which has long been practicing glass finishing panels; and now it has become possible to highlight them, or make them luminous ceramic tiles, dishes, anything you like;
There are also water-based luminous paints, allowing you to get the effect of luminous bouquets of flowers;
there are special– and these are fences and facades of country buildings;
again, our own version of similar paints is offered for concrete– one gets the impression that chemists are ready to make any paint for any rough surface glow;

and this is not far from the truth - after all, there are options for coloring with paint and plastic, everything that starts with “poly” - polystyrene, polypropylene, polycarbonate. (See also article.)

Security measures

You have to pay for all the beauty created - fluorescent paints are not environmentally flawless (although according to the classification they belong to the rather harmless 4th class), therefore they require special handling:

work must be carried out in a well-ventilated place and only in full protective equipment - a cap, goggles, and better mask, covering the face completely, gloves;
do not allow vapors to enter the respiratory system, otherwise you should consult a doctor;
Do not under any circumstances allow the material to get into your eyes, but if this happens, rinse them immediately and go straight to the hospital;

If paint particles get into the esophagus, be sure to constantly drink water, but do not bring yourself to the point of vomiting.

Phosphor

The basis of luminous paint is a special powder - phosphor, which is added to the paint. Only 15 minutes of exposure to light is enough for the paint to give off light for 8 hours.

The phosphor has the most colors, and 100 grams is enough to fill 8 square meters of paint.

The price of a phosphor depends on the color of the glow it provides:

pale light green and light green cost an average of 490 rubles per 50 grams;
white and blue – the same 490;
red, orange, blue, yellow, green - everything is already 30 rubles more expensive.

Helpful advice. Note that the purchase of phosphor occurs in batches, and here the rules of wholesale already apply - the more you take, the cheaper the unit of weight.
So, a kilogram of red phosphor no longer costs the mathematical 10,400 rubles, but only 9,500 (meaning average values).

Available separately glowing phosphor for acrylic paint.

Here the prices are noticeably lower:

white and lime yellow already cost 250 rubles for 50 grams;
white and blue – again 250;
all other colors are on sale for RUB 260.

Own kitchen

With the modern level of development of chemistry “for everyone”, you can create luminous pigments for paints, and therefore the paints themselves, on your own. We offer several recipes from the kitchen called “how to make glowing paint at home.”

Several recipes

The first one (we also give chemical formula in case of choosing in a store based on labels, the weights are given in grams; to obtain larger volumes, we simply increase the weight proportionally), the goal is purple:

mix:

calcium oxide CaO – 20,
sulfur – 6,
lithium sulfate Li 2 SO 4 – 1.5,
and one milliliter of a half percent alcohol solution of bismuth nitrate Bi(NO 3) 3;

We will heat the mixture for at least 40 minutes at a temperature of 700 degrees.

Second, blue color:

mix:

calcium oxide – 20,
barium hydroxide Ba(OH) 2 – 20,
sulfur – 8,
cadium sulfate K 2 SO 4 – 1,
sodium sulfate Na 2 SO 4 – 1,
lithium sulfate – 2,
and two ml of a half percent solution of bismuth nitrate in alcohol;

We will heat for the same 40 minutes, but we will raise the temperature to 800 degrees.

Third, blue-blue color:

mix:

calcium carbonate CaCO 3 – 100,
magnesium oxide MgO – 25,
sulfur – 50,
sucrose – 10,
sodium fluoride NaF – 3,
potassium sulfide K 2 S – 2.5,
sodium sulfide Na 2 S – 2.5,
half percent alcohol solutions:
thorium nitrate Th(NO 3) 4 – 1.6 ml,
thallium nitrate TlNO 3 – 1.6 ml,
bismuth nitrate Bi(NO 3) 3 – 3.6 ml,
rubidium nitrate RbNO 3 – 8 ml;

boil the mixture for two and a half hours at a temperature of 1100 degrees.

Here is an example of successful application - luminous paints - applied with your own hands, completely change the impression of the facade in dark time days

Fourth, sea green:

mix:

calcium oxide – 10,
strontium oxide SrO – 20,
calcium tungstate CaWO 4 – 1,
sulfur – 8,
potassium and sodium sulfates – 1 g each,
lithium sulfate – 2 g,
two milliliters of a half percent solution of bismuth nitrate in alcohol;

heat for 40 minutes at 800 degrees.

Fifth, red color:

barium oxide – 40,
sulfur – 9,
lithium phosphate - 0.7,
3 ml of alcohol solution in 0.4% copper sulfate CuSO 4;
it is also necessary to keep under fire for 40 minutes at the same 800 degrees;
but if you want to get a real red color, you must use very clean dishes; any impurities can have a detrimental effect on the quality of the color.

Whatever color you choose, after removing the mixture from the oven:

it is cooled down;
remove the crust, and
grind into powder;
Next, mix the powder with nitro varnish or acrylic paint.

But you can also prepare the diluent yourself.

It could be:

liquid glass - silicate glue;
turpentine;
Dammar varnish that needs to be filtered:

dammar resin 52%,
xylene 43%,
castor oil 5%

In this case, the resin is filled with xylene;

everything gets mixed up;
castor oil is added;
Note that the resulting varnish evaporates very easily, so you should always keep it under a tightly closed lid;
The paint is obtained by mixing 2.5 parts of powder and one part of varnish.

And a few comments

As you can see, the work is quite delicate and will require building an entire chemical laboratory at home.

Therefore, take into account some more nuances:

some substances (the most famous is white phosphorus) and their derivatives do not glow without access to oxygen - therefore, if something does not work out for you, check whether you have closed the glass lid too much;
some substances will glow only if they are shaken and rubbed;
the most common are substances that accumulate and release light.

Working in your laboratory requires caution and knowledge of the behavior of various substances.

So:

Some mixtures contain toxic substances that must always be stored separately;
when sulfides react with acids, poisonous hydrogen sulfide is released with such an odor that you can take away the saints - but the worst thing is that these rotten eggs block the centers of smell;
Sulfides of alkali and alkaline earth metals are also disgusting because they destroy nails and hair, so without reliable gloves it is better not to touch them at all.

conclusions

Frankly speaking, you should not undertake the preparation of phosphor yourself, as luminous paint is often called - required quantity you still won’t get it, but there is a high probability of getting problems on your head, literally and figuratively. Better explore the market for existing offers.

Be sure to consult with suppliers - the less harmful the powder you purchase is, the better for everyone, not just you. Be sure to check it out additional video in this article, it will both surprise and warn you to be careful once again.

Paints that glow in the dark are divided into two main groups:

Translucent, more often called colorless. The basis of such compositions is a transparent varnish. You can apply paint to almost any surface, even with a pattern, because during the day the paint layer remains invisible.

Colored dyes consist of a phosphor and a pigment. During daylight hours, surfaces treated with them look like they are painted. in the usual way, and at night they begin to glow.

Depending on the chemical composition luminous paint is different and its performance characteristics. For this reason, luminescent paints and varnishes are divided into the following groups:

Paints for plastic surfaces, characterized by high adhesion, are polyurethane-mineral enamels.

Safe and fast-drying acrylic emulsions on water based.

Heat-resistant dyes intended for hot glass, ceramics, and metal, the coating of which can withstand heating up to 500 degrees.

Waterproof dyes that can be used in bathrooms and even swimming pools, creating a water-repellent film on the surface.

Important! Luminescent paints have a lot of advantages, but there are also significant drawback– luminous enamels are very expensive.

How to make glowing paint at home

It is quite possible to make luminous paint at home. To do this, you will have to get the main component - phosphor. You can buy this substance online or in large stores. construction stores. The cost of a phosphor depends on the intensity of its color: what lighter shade glow, the cheaper the substance.

Attention! On average, to process 8 squares of surface you will need about 100 grams of phosphor.

The second ingredient - varnish - should be selected depending on what surface will be painted. This is the only way the finished dye will adhere securely and last a long time.

So, you need to prepare luminous paint in the following sequence:

varnish is poured into a glass or ceramic container;
add phosphor powder based on the proportion of 30% substance to 70% varnish;
drop a little solvent (no more than 1% of the total mass);
if you need to prepare a color dye, add a suitable color;
Stir all ingredients thoroughly.

Paint made according to this recipe can be used in the same way as purchased luminous enamel. The timing and method of storing the composition depend on the qualities of the varnish that was used to prepare the luminous enamel.

Advice! Luminescent paints are convenient to spray with a spray can; you can use a brush or even a roller for application - the choice of application method largely depends on the consistency of the dye and the properties of the varnish included in its composition.

How to make your own phosphor

With some knowledge of chemistry and access to reagents, you can try to prepare a phosphor at home. This can save you a lot of money, but you will have to work hard.

For a homemade phosphor you need:

Find pine extract.

Add extract to water in a ratio of 1:50. Stir well. The solution should be a rich yellow hue.

Pour 3 grams of boric acid into a thick-bottomed container made of heat-resistant material.

Pour 10 drops of pine extract solution onto boron powder.

Mix the composition thoroughly and distribute it along the bottom of the container so that the layer thickness does not exceed 4 mm.

Turn on low heat and dry the glowing composition until all the moisture has evaporated.

When bubbles begin to appear, they must be pierced with a toothpick or needle.

When the contents of the container melt, turn off the fire and allow the composition to cool to room temperature.

The dried peel is crushed into powder - this is a phosphor.

You need to use a homemade phosphor in the same way as a purchased one: dissolve it in varnish or water emulsion.

Attention! The glow intensity of homemade paint will depend on the amount of pine extract in the phosphor. The proportion of this substance can be changed at your discretion.

The home craftsman must understand that the cost of homemade dye will only pay off if large volumes are produced. In addition, purchased branded paints are clearly of higher quality, they apply smoother, provide a uniform glow, allow you to choose a specific shade, and last longer.

As an experiment, of course, you can prepare luminous paint at home. It is quite suitable for minor repairs, finishing parts or car tuning.