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Articles tagged with: ‘water repellent‘

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Using water and air to create bistable optical displays

By Damir Beciri
One Comment20 June 2012

aalto-water-and-air-bistable-optical-displays-1An international team of researchers led by Aalto University have come up with a concept of writing and displaying information on surfaces using simply air and water. The researchers are using an interesting property of superhydrophobic surfaces when they are submerged into water. The microscopic structures on their surface prevent the water from contact with… »

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Nature inspires a new multifunctional glass surface

By Damir Beciri
28 April 2012

mit-multifunctional-glass-1Inspired by nature, where textured surfaces ranging from lotus leaves to desert-beetle carapaces and moth eyes have developed in ways that often fulfill multiple purposes at once, a group of researchers from MIT developed a glass that is self-cleaning, virtually eliminates reflections, and resists fogging and glare. These features could lower the maintenance expenses for… »

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Candle soot used to create superamphiphobic glass nanostructures

By Damir Beciri
One Comment8 December 2011

superamphiphobic-sponge-like-silicaAlthough we already wrote about many materials that could serve as liquid repellant surfaces, the one developed by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz and the Technical University Darmstadt stands out by being superamphiphobic. They used candle soot to produce a fluorinated silicon coated silica nanostructure which is capable to… »

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Eucalyptus leaf wax coating could be used for self-cleaning surfaces

By Damir Beciri
One Comment1 November 2011

eucaliptus-color-dropsEucalyptus macocarpa, which is also known as The Rose of the West or Mottlecah, is a mallee Eucalyptus that is native to the south-west of Western Australia and noted for its large, spectacular flowers. Murdoch University researchers have discovered that it has unique self-cleaning and water-repellent properties which could be used in new nanotechnology applications…. »

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Pitcher plant biomimicry leads to SLIPS – efficient liquid repelling coating

By Damir Beciri
One Comment22 September 2011

pitcher-plant-nepenthes-monkey-cupInspired by pitcher plant, a group of applied scientists at Harvard University managed to create a material that repels just about any type of liquid, including blood and oil, and does so even while it is exposed to high pressure or freezing temperatures. Since it is carnivorous by nature, the ability to have a virtually… »

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Spider hairs biomimicry for hydrophobic surfaces

By Damir Beciri
28 February 2010

spider-hairs-biomimicryAlthough we already wrote about lotus biomimicry for water-repelling surfaces, in this article we’re going to write about a surface with similar properties. Engineering researchers have created what they say is a “nearly perfect hydrophobic interface” by mimicking spiders. By using plastic to reproduce the shape and patterns of the minute hairs that grow on… »

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Lotus flower biomimicry for dirt and bacteria free surfaces

By Damir Beciri
2 Comments26 September 2009

lotus-plantResearchers at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., are developing a transparent coating that prevents dirt and even bacteria from sticking in the same way a lotus plant sheds water. The research begun through collaboration of Northrop Grumman Electronics Systems, Linthicum, Md., and nGimat Corporation, Atlanta, Ga. Although a lotus leaf appears smooth,… »