Scientists have designed a transparent coating which is destined to protect the surface of an aircraft. This coating will keep down ice formation and will prevent corrosion on airplanes. Thanks to this discovery, the water will transform into bead-drops and will jump off the surface of an airplane.
This coating was created by a team led by Dr. C.J. Brinker which was funded by the Scientific Research of the Air Force Office. The transparent coating is not their only discovery as they developed “a patterned surface that combines extremely water-repellent and water-absorbent areas to draw water out of humid air.” The scientists were inspired by the Namib Desert beetle and with this technique they could get water without the need of extra energy.
“The most recent advancement in this research is the ability to selectively pattern the coating and spatially control the wetting behavior for a desired application. This allows us to define the pathways along which water droplets will roll,” said Dr. Brinker about this coating that eventually could make all electronics waterproof.
In order to make this happen, the Brinker Nanostructures Research Group at the University of New Mexico and Sandia National Laboratories, applied and tested the coating with extremely water-repellent properties on tiny objects and eventually they managed to control the roughness of the coating.
For the moment there are no words on when the transparent coating will be applied on aircrafts and how efficient it is, but we are expecting this to happen really soon.