(406e) Nature-Inspired Self-Cleaning Surfaces: Mechanisms, Modelling, and Manufacturing
- Conference: AIChE Annual Meeting
- Year: 2020
- Proceeding: 2020 Virtual AIChE Annual Meeting
- Group: Nanoscale Science and Engineering Forum
- Session:
- Time: Wednesday, November 18, 2020 - 9:00am-9:15am
We will also discuss how these materials can be produced, with a focus on scalable manufacturing. There are already some tens of companies offering commercial self-cleaning coatings, and their number grows every year. The major bottleneck to bring self-cleaning surfaces on the market remains the lack of durability. Coatings usually do not retain non-wetting properties, due to mechanical abrasion, UV degradation or organic contamination. To convince end-user companies to incorporate self-cleaning coatings into their products (e.g. shoes, cars, construction materials) remains a challenge, and likely requires a scientific breakthrough in mechanical durability. Further progress in this field will require steps in understanding, which would profit from interdisciplinary collaboration.
[1] Yu, C., Sasic, S., Liu, K., Salameh, S., Ras, R. H. A., & van Ommen, J. R. (2020), Chem. Eng. Res. Des. 155 (2020), 48-65.