Superhydrophobic coating is non-toxic and economical to produce

The lotus leaf is one of the most water-repellent surfaces on Earth. Now a low-cost class of materials that mimic its properties could be used as a water-repellent coating, reducing the use of hazardous chemicals.

The new class of superhydrophobic nanomaterials, developed by researchers in the US and UK, is non-toxic, simple to manufacture, and can be applied to surfaces through spray or spin-coating.

The materials could replace the expensive and hazardous fluorocarbons often used to protect surfaces from water, according to Professor Julian Eastoe at Bristol University, a member of the research team.

“The big problem with fluorocarbon is its persistence, as it is very difficult to get rid of from the body, unlike hydrocarbons,” he said. “Here we have a material that does not contain fluorine, but performs in an identical way.”

The coating, unveiled in the American Chemical Society journal ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, mimics the microscopic and nanoscopic structure of the lotus leaf surface, which gives the plant its ability to repel water.