Slashdot Mirror
Lotus Nanotech
Makarand writes "The lotus, a flowering plant native to Asia whose waxy leaves repel water droplets and particles of dirt, is teaching nanotechnologists
a thing or two. Scientists at BASF have
found that the lotus plant surfaces have a coating of wax crystals
around 1 nm in diameter. This roughness on the nanometer scale
helps the plant surface to reduce the actual contact area to 2-3%
of the droplet covered area making its surfaces superhydrophobic.
If the surface is slanting, the droplet rolls off, instead of sliding off,
picking up small particles of dirt on the way giving a "self-cleaning" effect.
BASF is now working on an aerosol spray to coat a surface with such a self-cleaning nanostructure. The self cleaning shoe might soon be a reality."
Until the coating half wears off and then you have to wash the entire skyscaper with tetrachlorowhatever to get the residue off. Products like this for glass already exist. Tried them on my car. Once.
Virtually serving coffee
It does exist and is avaliable: http://www.pilkington.co.uk/australasia/australia/ english/building+products/whats+new/news+items/pil kington+activ.htm
L.
... and this earlier Slashdot article about the self-cleaning glass concept.
A little planning goes a long way...
Hi! IIRC the principle of the so-called Lotus Effect was originally found by Prof. Dr. Barthlott of the University of Bonn. http://www.botanik.uni-bonn.de/system/bionik_flash .html
btw, the application of such a finish to glass would result in a certain matteness because of the nanostructure, so this might not be the solution to get self-cleaning glasses.
greetings,
Harleqin
Self-Cleaning Glass is already out. Pilkington has had it for about a year and a half.
This ActivGlass as it called does one better the this coating because not only does it repel water, it also uses sunlight to kernel up dirt so when that when it rains that dirt just runs off.
You say things that offend me and I can deal with it. Can you?
"However, Soane had a test garment on hand, a men's shirt, made with fabric from the nanotechnology process. He gleefully poured water and coffee on it and the liquids ran off (onto Burlington's boardroom table) without being absorbed by the fabric. But he noted that pressure would cause the liquid to pan through the fabric." New Century News article
In the distance you hear an ominous moo.
So, ActivGlass does not "repel" water or faciliate water beads, it spreads water evenly on the glass surface. The two technologies are entirely different, but may have similar applications. I would think that a hydrophobic surface would work better - since the longer water sticks to the surface, more additional flying dirt will be captured by the water!