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."
Forget the self cleaning shoe. This will be great for windows on skyscrapers.
For this thing to work as in lotus, shoes will need water droplets to be sprayed on them.
And what if you got some of the spray onto your socks while applying it to your shoes... I can see it now - forever stinking, laundry-resistant... oh the horror!
Join the elite! Post at score:2! Ghostwheel is online.
If this becomes a reality, expect to see it in Kiwi shoe polish. Thousands of ROTC students and millions of military personnel would be a pretty good market for Kiwi Black Self-cleaning(TM) ...dunno how you'd buff it though, considering it repels water so violently
If you can't see the value in jet powered ants you should turn in your nerd card. - Dunbal (464142)
I'll just be able to give myself a coating and not worry about bathing for a year.
~S
making its surfaces superhydrophobic.
Jim get the shotgun, the lotus has the hydrophoby!
Explanation
This is Lotus effect is actually known for some time now. I saw an article about it and the (already successful) attempts to mimic this well over a year ago. My girlfried, who is varnisher, said there is already varnish avaible with such an effect but it's way too expensive to paint a car with it. And AFAIK there is already keramics avaible with this effect, being very expensive, too. But as always, prices should drop once going into mass-production :-)
remember this?
Colonel Homer's outfit when he became Lurlene Lumpkin's manager..
"Now this is made from a space-age fabric especially designed for Elvis. Sweat actually cleans this suit!"
___
Cogito cogito, ergo cogito sum.
where massive amounts of fresh water are wasted every day to wash them (not to mention the long lines on Saturday mornings). And, this hydrophobic nature would make the body last even longer even here in Michigan(!). Or, a boat that doesn't soil so there is no need to pollute the lakes and streams with cleaners. Or, durable items that look as good as new for twice as long, reducing the human (or American) need to replace items with new looking appliances...
This is a great innovation.
Some people wonder why we should bother about the environment and saving plants and animals: this is why. All our great ideas come from Nature. 4+ billions years has have gone into "designing" the various flora/fona alive now and it would be extremely dumb to waste all the R and D.
Some other things ideas from nature:
There's also research being done in using some kinds of spider silk to replace steels cables: three times stronger and about half the weight. I wonder what things we'll never discover because the plant/animal species has gone extinct.
When are we going to realize that lab rats are cancer prone in general? I think lab rat, I think cancer on a stick.
... that if you turn the lotus sideways, it produces 3 resources, or "mana" if you will, before burying itself at the end of the round.
This is my sig. Its pathetic.
Coat waterslides in this stuff. Imagine screaming down a waterslide that has virtually no friction. WHEEEEEEEEE!
I can remember when nanotech implied nano-scale machines. Surely a clever (but passive) new type of coating is materials science, or something?
...we don't make a lot of the nanotech you buy, we make a lot of the nanotech you buy, deadlier.
I don't clean my car, haven't done for 2 years or so and my car is white.
The dirt seems to reach equilibrium.
There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
You need self cleaning glass? Look here.
You need a self cleaning toilet? Look here.
I'm sure that there will be many more examples of this great technology in the next months.
Bye egghat.
-- "As a human being I claim the right to be widely inconsistent", John Peel
I mean, if the crystals are that small, how long before they erode away?
On the lotus plant, I would imagine that the crystals are continually being replenished, and even then how long does the blossom last?
Jon Acheson
All opinions expressed herein are my own, and not those of my employers, who are appalled.
"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.