Textured steel surface allows liquids to boil without bubbling

‘This would be advantageous for use in industrial situations such as nuclear power plants, where vapour explosions are best avoided, or where gentle heating is desirable,’ said Prof Derek Chan from the university’s Department of Mathematics and Statistics.

The study suggests that the new surface could also be applied to other situations that involve the transfer of heat, such as reducing fogging and preventing ice or frost formation on windows.

‘Our results show the potential of using this textured surface to control heating and cooling events that affect the formation of frost on windows and ice on the control surfaces of aircraft or even refrigeration units,’ Chan said in a statement.

The international study, published in Nature, was carried out in collaboration with Dr Neelesh Patankar from Northwestern University in the US and Dr Ivan Vakarelski and his team at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia where the experimental studies were carried out.