Belfast: Making metals water-resistant

Licensing opportunity

Scientists at Queen’s University Belfast in the UK are claiming a significant advance the field of water-repellent ‘ultrahydrophobic’ materials, which they say has multiple applications.

Graham Saunders and Steven Bell of the school of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, have developed a simple method for treating metals to give them extreme water-repellent properties. The technique uses readily available starting materials and standard laboratory equipment in a process that only takes a few minutes.

The objects to be treated are immersed in a metal-salt solution which coats them with a textured metal layer, thinner than a human hair. They are then dipped into a solution of a chemical surface-modifier, which covers the textured coating with a second, even thinner layer of water-repelling molecules.

The resulting surface is so hydrophobic that water droplets deposited on the surface form almost perfect spheres and coated objects can be immersed for days but are found to be completely dry when they are pulled from the water.

The flexibility and simplicity of the approach means that the method can be applied to metal objects of any reasonable shape and size. Practical applications are likely to include biomedical devices, liquid separation, and reducing turbulence in water pipes, among others.