Say ‘goodbye’ to the need to wash your car
Leave it to a country where it rains most of the time to come up with a solution to the ever-present issue of having to wash your car. Dutch researchers have developed a new type of coating which should bring an end to the need to wash your car.
The Eindhoven University of Technology Department of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry researchers lead by Dr. Catarina Esteves have developed a ‘functional’ coating made up of nano-sized groups of molecules which provide specific properties, which make the coating impervious to minor damages such as scratching.
This surface is made up of incredibly small ‘stalks’ which carry the functional chemical groups at their ends and them mix them through the coating. This means that when the outer layer is removed, the ‘stalks’ from the immediate layer underneath will re-orient to the new surface and thus restore the function of the coating – this is pretty much a self-repairing surface.
This technology can be used to create a self-cleaning car, with a highly water-resistant coating keeping itself clean for long periods of time. The idea behind this being that thanks to the coating’s properties rain drops would simply roll off the car and take surface dirt with them – as opposed to just drying up on your car and leaving those specific dusty marks.
Basically with this coating on your car, the occasional rain shower won’t be a reason to groan because you just washed your car; it will be a reason to rejoice because your car will get washed.
Once this coating is applied to cars and is properly tested one can easily see many other applications for it, such as mobile phones, solar panels and pretty much any other type of vehicle, whether it sails of flies.
Now don’t get too excited about this technology, it won’t be available starting next year or anything, it’s most likely that the first versions of this coating technology will be ready for production sometime within six to eight years.
