Us: Research And Development Of New Nanomaterials

In order to get this kind of non water surface, researchers used nanotechnology to process nano structure "pillars" on silicon wafers. The test results confirm that even if there is no gas under the droplet, the surface can still be "dripping".

The lotus leaf, which is not dyed with silt, is a natural master without water. It can prevent rainwater but can not prevent water vapor.

Researchers at Penn State University recently developed a new type of water vapor.

Truly, "dripping water does not touch".

According to the researchers, when the liquid drops onto the surface of an object, there are usually two kinds of situations: first, the surface of the object is still "locked" with a thin layer of gas, and the droplets float on the gas layer without touching the surface of the object; first, there is no gas between them, and the droplet is closely contacted with the surface of the object, and is restricted or stuck on it.

People used to develop

It can only be effective in the first case, and now they allow the material to work effectively in second situations.

"The hydrophobicity of lotus leaf surface is completely dependent on a layer of gas under the liquid, but this layer of gas can easily be destroyed, thereby causing it to lose its hydrophobic properties," explains Huang Desheng, assistant professor in charge of research. "Our research used liquid lubricants to replace gas, which greatly improved the performance of water repellent on the surface."

In order to get this non water surface, the researchers used nanotechnology to process nanostructures on silicon wafers, then poured a layer of liquid lubricants into nanostructures to reduce the viscous force on droplet slipping.

To test its performance, the researchers tilt the surface 30 degrees and take 5 tiny droplets on the surface to slide.

The test results confirm that even if there is no gas below the droplet, the surface can still be "drip free" and its hydrophobicity is much higher than that of previous bionic structures.

Dai Xianming, the first author of the related paper, pointed out that, in addition to silicon materials, metals, glass, ceramics and plastics,

It can also be used to design such non water repellent materials.

In industry, this kind of material has important application value, for example, it can be used to improve the condensation heat pfer performance of power plant heat exchangers, and also can prevent the safety accidents caused by ice formation and frosting.