Oak Ridge National Laboratory has generated a new material that repels water better than any other natural material. The material uses hydrophobic-effect, which causes water to bead up, to unnatural heights by restructuring the material’s surface at the nanoscale level!
The ability of the material to part water lies in the ‘Moses effect’ due to which surface always remains coated with a thin layer of air, even if it comes into contact with water. This will allow this material to be used on a wide range of articles from waterproof clothes to the coatings of ships and boats.
John Simpson, of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory said,
I have developed a glass powder coating material that causes any water based solvent virtually bounce off it’s surface.
It’s believed that nano-technology will enable production of materials with never-before-seen properties. However, nano-technology is still in research phase and is confined to laboratories and universities. Simpson’s super-hydrophobic coating material is not first of it’s kind but, it’s the first material that has been commercially manufactured.
Source: wiredscience
