Ever stop to consider why lotus plant leaves always look clean? The hydrophobic – water repelling – characteristic of the leaf, termed the “Lotus effect,” helps the plant survive in muddy swamps, repelling dirt and producing beautiful flowers. Of late, engineers have been paying more and more attention to nature’s efficiencies, such as the Lotus effect, and studying its behavior in order to make advances in technology. As one example, learning more about swarming schools of fish is aiding in the development of unmanned underwater vehicles. Other researchers are observing the extraordinary navigational abilities of bats that might lead to new ways to reconfigure aviation highways in the skies. Ranga Pitchumani , professor of mechanical engineering at Virginia Tech and currently on an invitational assignment as the chief scientist and director of the Concentrating Solar Power and Systems Integration programs of the U.S. Department of Energy’s SunShot Initiative, would like to see more efficiencies and clever designs in technology. His work reflects this philosophy. His recent development of a type of coating for materials that has little to no affinity for water emulates the Lotus effect. Commonplace material coatings are as simple as paints and varnishes. More sophisticated coatings might be used
The post New material coating technology mimics nature’s lotus effect has been published on Technology Org.
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