Tropes

www.voicechronicle.com_tech-and-science 2015 0000159.txt

#Researchers Develop Super-Hydrophobic Metal Surfaces Using Lasers Researchers have turned metal surfaces water repellent using femtosecond laser pulses. They have achieved this without using any temporary coatings. Researchers from the University of Rochester have used femtosecond laser pulses to turn metals waterproof or super-hydrophobic. This means that water will just bounce off their surface once it hits it. Chunlei Guo, a physicist at the Institute of Optics at the University of Rochester and the lead author of the study, said, his is the first time that a multifunctional metal surface is created by lasers that is super-hydrophobic (water repelling), self-cleaning, and highly absorptive. The material is so strongly water-repellent, the water actually gets bounced off. Then it lands on the surface again, gets bounced off again, and then it will just roll off from the surface. Apart from being water-repellent, the laser treated metal surfaces can also absorb heat and light. The potential applications for anti-icing surfaces involve protection of aerofoils, protection of aerofoils, pipes of air conditioners and refrigerators, radar or telecommunication antennas, and hygienic latrines. The researchers created the super-hydrophobic surface by subjecting the metal surfaces like platinum titanium and brass to short bursts of lasers. These short burst lasted for only millionth of a billionth of a second. These super powerful laser pulses produced microgrooves on top of which densely populated, lumpy nanostructures were formed. The optical and wetting properties of the surfaces of the three metals were altered by these nanostructures. The nanostructures created by the lasers are intrinsic to the metal surface. According to the researchers, properties they provide to the metal will not deteriorate. The super-hydrophobic properties of the laser-patterned metals are similar to the famous nonstick coating. The project was financed by The Bill & Melissa Gates Foundation and Air force Office of Scientific research and is published in the Journal of Applied Physics y

< Back - Next >