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Scientists Develop Super-Slippery Material

Posted by samzenpus on from the none-more-slick dept.

Hugh Pickens writes writes "Anyone who is partial to ketchup with their food will know how difficult it is to get the final dregs from the bottle but now the Telegraph reports that scientists have created one of the most slippery materials ever that promises to result in new self-cleaning surfaces that never get dirty, could be used to coat the inside of bottles and jars to help consumers get all of the food inside, or in the energy industry for making oil flow more efficiently through pipes. Professor Joanna Aizenberg, a materials scientists at Harvard University, was inspired by the carnivorous Nepenthes pitcher plants, which has a highly slippery surface at the top of its flute-shaped leaves so that insects tumble down into the digestive juices contained inside. The new material, known as a Slippery Liquid Infused Porous Surface or SLIPS boasts a rare trait called "omniphobicity", which means it can repel both water and oily materials. "If we used substance like ours to coat the inside of bottles, it would be possible to get it all out," says Aizenberg. "The only problem may be that the sauce may come out a little too easily on to their food.""

7 of 298 comments (clear)

  1. I wonder... by korgitser · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...what happens when this super slippery meets that super sticky gecko tape http://science.slashdot.org/story/11/11/07/1615221/gecko-inspired-tape-can-be-reused-thousands-of-times. Logic bomb?

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    FCKGW 09F9 42
  2. Could you use this on a submarine? by mosb1000 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Couldn't you use something like this to improve the efficiency of submarines, or perhaps aircraft?

    1. Re:Could you use this on a submarine? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Bearings, not barrings. Bearings don't slip. Bushings do. Bearings fail from wear caused by the sticking and unsticking of the rollers on the races. A little of the friction on aircraft is from skin drag, but much more is from the bumpiness of the surface above the thousandths, form drag and interference drag. Submarines and surface vessels might benefit greatly from it, but as much from preventing barnacles and crap from sticking. If you've never scraped a hull, you don't understand. Windmills are laminar flow creatures which might benefit from this, if they stay clean. The guy with the solar panel notion might be onto something.

  3. The Teflon effect by Locke2005 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    So... if this material is so slippery, how are they going to get it to stick to the surfaces they want to make more slippery?
    This is sort of like "I've just invented an acid so strong it will eat through ANYTHING! It's right over there in that bottle... oh shit!"

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    I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
  4. Re:Practical application... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I think the Health & Safety people are going to clamp down on this one.

    Well, I certainly hope the food industry does. Howzbout we test this stuff before we just start coating our pots and pans with the shit. (Like Telfon, ya know?)

    I, for one, am not looking forward to all my food tasting like cancer.

  5. Re:New Teflon by BlueParrot · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Take a good ol regular steel pan,

    Better yet, cast iron.

    I hate Teflon pans, you have to cuddle them like a fragile little creature or they get scratched. In comparison you can scrub the cast iron ones with steel wool or even sand blaster them ( yes really ) and all it takes to get them back to pristine condition afterwards is a drop of veg oil.

  6. Re:Practical application... by CaptSternn · · Score: 2, Insightful

    With the onset of winter, I'm thinking sledding Griswold style!