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New research, published this year, made superhydrophobic surfaces that were strongly resistant to damage. The result, which was published on the front cover of the journal Nature, was a major breakthrough; until now, extremely water-repellent surfaces have been too delicate to be used widely. The team behind the original breakthrough has now received funding for their follow-up project called ARMOR, which aims to get the materials out of the laboratory, and into commercial products.

“The key to the original work was applying a microstructured pattern to the surface before coating it with the water-repelling compounds” explains Professor Robin Ras, the lead researcher on the project. “With ARMOR, we are now looking into what surfaces we can apply this patterning to for real-world uses.”

In the original paper, the team was able to apply the extremely water repellent coating to hard materials, like ceramic and glass. One block of funding from Business Finland is supporting research on how the superhydrophobic coatings can be applied to flexible, plastic materials. “We are discussing potential applications with a wide range of companies,” said Professor Sami Franssila, a materials chemist also taking part in the work. “One potential application we’re exploring is if we can make injection moulded materials have the armour plated patterning. This would be really useful for plastic casings for sensors on the outside of houses, that have to be weather resistant.” The team is also collaborating with a sports equipment company to see if the coating can be applied to skis, “If the bottom of your skis are superhydrophobic, it reduces friction with the snow so you’ll go faster” explained Ville Jokinen another materials scientist on the project “but of course, skis are used in very demanding conditions, so the coatings have to be damage resistant.”

The second block of funding, from the program, is supporting research into applying the ARMOR coating to hard materials like glass and wood. In particular, superhydrophobic coatings on glass would be very useful for solar panels, where their water-repelling properties will keep the panels clean of dirt and grime that would reduce the amount of light that the solar panel can absorb. 

“We are looking forward to working with partner companies, and learning more about their production methods and how our new technology can be applied to it” said Juuso Korhonen, an Aalto University researcher who is the business developer on the ARMOR project, “we are also excited to work with other companies who need superhydrophobic coatings with strong damage resistance, and are open to setting up further collaborations.”

Contact

Juuso Korhonen
Business developer and research fellow
juuso.korhonen@aalto.fi
+358504137760

Robin Ras
Professor
robin.ras@aalto.fi 

Sami Franssila
Professor
sami.franssila@aalto.fi

Ville Jokinen
University Lecturer
ville.p.jokinen@aalto.fi