A new spray-on material from engineers at The Australian National University (ANU) offers a more robust waterproofing capability than previous coatings. Combining two plastics, one tough and one flexible, the invention could eventually be used to protect mobile phones, de-ice airplane parts, or keep boat hulls from corroding.
"The surface is a layer of nanoparticles, which water slides off as if it's on a hot barbecue," said PhD student William Wong, from the Nanotechnology Research Laboratory at the ANU Research School of Engineering.
The water-repellent or superhydrophobic coating is also transparent and extremely resistant to ultraviolet radiation. The spray-on invention stabilizes very fragile nanomaterials, resulting in ultra-durable nanotextures with numerous real-world applications, from keeping skyscraper windows clean to de-fogging a bathroom mirror.
The researchers used a flame to generate the nanoparticle constituents of the material. For lower-temperature applications, the team dissolved the two components in a sprayable form.
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Also: Learn about NASA's Hydrophobic Porous Structures.
Transcript
00:00:01 I'm William. I'm a PhD student at the Australian National University specialising in material science engineering. This discovery comprises of a super hydrophobic coating that is ultra robust. We can apply it to practically everything. So, you can have paper, cardboard, wood, claystone bricks, metals, plastics, windows, building materials of any sorts, marine application based materials, anything you can practically think of. In the market today there exists many super hydrophobic coatings. Most of them are susceptible to wear damages by virtue of breakage of its nano micro structures.
00:00:38 We have actually devised a technique here that retains this micro nano structures even after extensive wear damages. We've actually created a dual layer composite that comprises of a polymer that is interpenetrated within itself. So what do I mean by interpenetrated polymer networks? They actually represent two different polymers that are entangled together. So, you can imagine it represents two fishing nets that are actually interpenetrated and interweaved within one another when it's being synthesised, which gives it it's extreme robustness and strength.
