AsianScientist (Sep. 14, 2016) – Scientists in Australia have developed a new spray-on material with a remarkable ability to repel water. The research is published in ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces.
“The surface is a layer of nanoparticles, which water slides off as if it’s on a hot barbecue,” said first author Mr. William Wong from the Nanotechnology Research Laboratory at the Australian National University Research School of Engineering.
The team created a much more robust coating than previous materials by combining two plastics, one tough and one flexible, like ‘interwoven fishing nets.” The water-repellent or superhydrophobic coating is also transparent and extremely resistant to ultraviolet radiation.
The researchers developed two ways of creating the material, both of which are cheaper and easier than current manufacturing processes. The first method uses a flame to generate the nanoparticle constituents of the material, while the second dissolved the two components in a sprayable form for lower temperature applications.
The new ability to control the properties of materials could be applied to a wide range of applications such as to waterproof mobile phones, prevent ice from forming on airplanes, or protect boat hulls from corroding, said Wong.
“The key innovation is that this transparent coating is able to stabilize very fragile nanomaterials resulting in ultra-durable nanotextures with numerous real-world applications,” said Associate Professor Antonio Tricoli, head of the Nanotechnology Research Laboratory and the senior author of the study.
The article can be found at: Wong et al. (2016) Ultra-Durable and Transparent Self-Cleaning Surfaces by Large-Scale Self-Assembly of Hierarchical Interpenetrated Polymer Networks.
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Source: Australian National University.
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