Scientists have developed a new nanomaterial called dripping water

China Paint Online News Information: The lotus leaves that come out of the silt without dyeing are natural, water-free "masters", which can prevent rain but not water vapor. Researchers at Pennsylvania State University have developed a new nanomaterial that doesn't even touch water vapor.
According to the researchers, when a droplet falls on the surface of an object, there are usually two kinds of situations: First, the surface of the object is still "locked" there is a thin layer of gas, the droplet floating on this layer of gas, not on the surface of the object; One is that there is no gas between the two, and the droplets come into close contact with the surface of the object and are restricted or stuck to them. In the past, people developed a water-resistant material with imitation lotus leaves that worked only in the first case, while they allowed the material to work effectively in the second case.
"The hydrophobic properties of the lotus leaf surface are entirely dependent on a layer of gas under the liquid, but this layer of gas is easily destroyed, resulting in loss of hydrophobic properties," explains Huang Desheng, an assistant professor in charge of the study. To
get this water-free surface, the researchers used nanotechnology to process "pillars" of nanostructures on silicon wafers, and then poured a layer of liquid lubricant into the nanostructure to reduce the sticky force of sliding droplets. To test its performance, the researchers tilted the surface 30 degrees and placed 5 microliths of water droplets on the surface to allow it to slide. Test results confirm that even if there is no gas under the droplets, the surface can still be "drip-free", its hydrophobic properties far exceed the previous various bionic structures.
, in addition to silicon, metals, glass, ceramics and plastics can also be used to design such non-water-stained materials, said Dai Xianming, the first author of the paper. In industry, such materials have important application value, for example, can be used to improve the condensation and heat exchange performance of power plant heat exchangers, but also to prevent wing icing and frosting caused by safety accidents.
study was recently published online in the American journal ACS Nano.