What’s full of holes and still floats on water?
Evidently copper with uneven surfaces and treated with a hydrophobic chemicals. That’s what.
According to a BBC News article today, researchers in China have found a way to get postage-stamp sized pieces of copper to float more successfully than any other known material.
The team treated the copper in two stages. First, they deposited very tiny structures on its surface, essentially giving the metal a rough and uneven coating.
The second stage was to dip it into a “hydrophobic”, or water-repelling, chemical.
The result is a metal with a “superhydrophobic” surface, and a boat that floats despite being covered in holes.
“Water won’t penetrate the pores in the bottom of the boats, even when they are carrying a load,” said Dr Qinmin Pan, the chemist from Harbin Institute of Technology who led the research.
Superhydrophobic materials already have many hi-tech applications.
They are particularly useful in “microfluidic devices” where the flow of miniscule amounts of liquid have to be controlled. In these devices, water can be used to carry information on a chip.
But according to Dr Pan, this is the first time they have been used to make boats.
“We believe these boats are some of the strongest ever built – in terms of the mass they can carry,” said Dr Pan.
The scientists cited inspiration from the hydrophobic properties of lotus leaves and shark skin. There is so much around us that is inspiring. How long has it been since you looked into the microscopic level of things to find answers? What impact will this have on product design? How can we use this to serve a customer better?
