Superhydrophobic and oleophobic coating

[n2oinferno]

I suppose this is the best place to put it. Imagine the possibilities of having this stuff on your car.. Wonder how far off we are.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPM8OR6W6WE"]The Official Ultra-Ever Dry Product Video - Superhydrophobic and oleophobic coating - YouTube[/ame]

[911fanatic]

Thats some awesome shit!!

[Greg Nichols]

A few years ago I tried to get some of this stuff, they are only taking investment $ I was told no product to sell.

Crazy Hydrophobic properties!

Cheers,
GREG

[mashal]

Crazy shit, if it's real this will sell like crazy.

[Azzaboynt]

From the video, it looks like it slightly changes the colour of the material it's applied to. Pretty cool stuff though.

[Unleashed]

You can order it online, global industries sells it $48 for bottom coat and $90 for top coat.

[b.e]

Mmmmmm, fuzzy paint!

Seriously, it's fuzzy paint. Small fibers that sick out of the paint provide a huge surface area. Together they present an unwettable surface, as long as the fibers remain undisturbed. Touch it once, and the effect is gone. Look at the video...they never touch the treated surface. This means you can't wash you car without reapplying the coating.

The coating also makes everything look whiter, so you'll be driving a pastel-looking car, a big hit among single 40-year-old women with cats.

I'm uncertain if the FTC has approved nanofibers for use. There is some fear that in touching the surface, the fibers will stick into the skin, break off, and slowly move through the body. Nanofiber researchers I know haven't seemed too concerned about it, but they are aware they are the guinea pigs and the experiment isn't over.

[n2oinferno]

Here's a little more in depth detail about similar coatings. Unfortunately the publications are blocked by a paywall.
http://phys.org/news/2013-01-material-liquids-wont.html

[BrewCity-FR-S]

Seems like we have a fellow redditor here, am I right? :-)

[Xanatos]

They sell hydrophobic spray cans at footwear stores. The properties of this are amazing however you would still have to look at the UV degradation over time. Does it change color in heavy UV rays and does that nanotechnology wear over time due to UV?

[n2oinferno]

Originally Posted by BrewCity-FR-S

Seems like we have a fellow redditor here, am I right? :-)

I lurk. Never have created a username. But I've actually seen this video at several sites now. It's making its way around the detailing forums too, I think.

[b.e]

Originally Posted by n2oinferno

Here's a little more in depth detail about similar coatings. Unfortunately the publications are blocked by a paywall.
http://phys.org/news/2013-01-material-liquids-wont.html

Here are some quotes from the ACS article, for purposes of illumination of the technology:

"In this work, we have employed an electrospun coating of
cross-linked poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) + 50 wt%
fluorodecyl polyhedral oligomeric silsequioxane (POSS)
on top of stainless steel wire
meshes to fabricate hierarchically structured surfaces (see
Figure 1A)."

In other words, this didn't come out of a can. Here is an idea of how it works: http://www.nanowerk.com/spotlight/spotid=15547.php

Roughly translated into layman terms, the "hierarchial" nature of the surface comes from coating silicone with Teflon in a thin fiber mat; where one fails, the other does well. I haven't worked out the importance of the electrospinning part (it wasn't addressed in the paper) but my guess it that it creates microfibers (they will call them nanofibers) that makes the surface more fuzzy than a coating-type application would, making the surface more resistant to liquids, but also making it far more delicate.

"In this work,
we report surfaces that display superomniphobicity with nonNewtonian liquids (e.g., viscoelastic polymer solutions) in
addition to a wide range of Newtonian liquids including
concentrated organic and inorganic acids, bases, and solvents.
Virtually all liquids; organic or inorganic, polar or nonpolar,
Newtonian or non-Newtonian; easily roll off and bounce on
our surfaces, thereby making our surfaces ideal candidates for
effective chemical shielding. We envision that our surfaces will
have numerous applications including stain-free clothing and
spill-resistant, breathable protective wear, enhanced solvent resistance,
biofouling resistant surfaces, self-cleaning, drag reducing,
and lightweight corrosion-resistant coatings."

All Singing, All Dancing usually means they haven't tested it in those applications, only that it's time for some company to buy the technology and start engineering the applications.

I have the paper, if you have questions.

EDIT: Forgot the citation:
Shuaijun Pan, Arun K. Kota, Joseph M. Mabry, and Anish Tuteja J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2013, 135 (2), pp 578–581

[serial gixxer]

Imagine tryin to superman that lolz.

[Grey]

Originally Posted by Azzaboynt

From the video, it looks like it slightly changes the colour of the material it's applied to. Pretty cool stuff though.

It applies with a white semi-transparent cloudy finish. The manufacturers have not yet been able to make the same product in a completely transparent finish. You can, however, change the tint color of your cloudy finish.