Metals Bombarded With Lasers Are Super Hydrophobic

While there are some smartphone manufacturers who see the value of introducing waterproof capability to their handsets, this is one trend that has not caught the industry by storm – yet. Researchers claim that they have managed to create new self-cleaning surfaces that have a high degree of water repellency – and this is done without the need for potentially expensive and the tedious process of temporary coatings, through the bombardment of ordinary metals using lasers.

Yes sir, lasers. These new surfaces also have another ability – which is to be able to absorb light, allowing it to see action in durable, low maintenance solar collectors as well as other practical applications, according to scientists over at the University of Rochester in New York.

Majority of modern day hydrophobic materials tend to have a heavy reliance on chemical coatings, and laser pulses which create intricate patterns of micro- and nanoscale structures will be able to imbue such ordinary metals with the new properties, sans all of the chemical coatings, of course. .

Physicist Chunlei Guo shared, “This is the first time that a multifunctional metal surface is created by lasers that is super-hydrophobic (water repelling), self-cleaning, and highly absorptive.” Do you think we will see this functionality arrive for our future mobile devices?

Edwin Kee
Categories: General
Tags: laser, Science