Scientists have made a breakthrough in waterproof technology by making the most super-hydrophobic surfaces ever. The new technology could be deployed in aircraft engine to reduce icing or turbine blades in electric power plants to prevent water build up.
A group of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have now found a super-hydrophobic surface that could repel water better than current surfaces. The latest find can be used for waterproofing and to prevent icing.
The recent breakthrough comes courtesy of Kripa Varanasi, the Doherty Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at MIT; James Bird, who is a former MIT postdoctoral scholar and now an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Boston University; Rajiv Dhiman, a former MIT postdoctoral scholar and Hyukmin Kwon, a recent PhD recipient at MIT. Their work has been published in journal Nature.
Researchers say that the time it takes for a drop to stay in contact with a surface is significant as it controls the exchange of mass, momentum, and energy between the drop and the given surface. If the drop bounces faster, then that can have advantages of waterproofing. Scientists also said that increasing the surface interaction with the drop in a particular way resulted in speeding the bouncing process beyond previous limit.
The new finding suggests that adding tiny ridges to a silicon surface speeds the water bouncing off the surface by 40 percent, when compared to previous limit.
"We've demonstrated that we can use surface texture to reshape a drop as it recoils, in such a way that the overall contact time is significantly reduced," said Bird. "The upshot is that the surface stays drier longer if this contact time is reduced, which has the potential to be useful for a variety of applications."
The latest breakthrough can be advantageous in many areas such as making waterproof clothes, to reduce aircraft engine icing and more. The researchers also pointed out that the turbine blades in electric power plants sometimes become less effective if water builds up on their surfaces. If blades are made to stay dry for a longer period of time then higher efficiency can be achieved.
