9 ms·
Next Time Your Mom Says Don't Go Out in The Rain, Spray Yourself With This
- jkat 14y agoWas curious what happened if you inhaled it. Nothing specific on their site, but it does say: The coating has been found to be safe for use in nonfood contact areas of food processing plants. The coating meets FDA and USDA regulations for those types of applications. Still curious.
- akurilin 14y agoI remember seeing old videos of this tech used inside a ketchup bottle. I wonder if we're going to see food-safe versions soon on products like toothpaste and peanut butter :)
- theon144 14y agoI remember reading it's already food-safe, as in if you scraped it with a knife and munched on it, it'd still pass through you without any effects, but sorry, I don't have a source for that.
- ricardobeat 14y agoThat was MIT's "LiquiGlide"[1]. Theirs was created from food-safe materials. [1] http://www.fastcoexist.com/1679878/mits-freaky-non-stick-coating-keeps-ketchup-flowing http://www.fastcoexist.com/1679878/mits-freaky-non-stick-coa...
- cowsandmilk 14y agoI am surprised no one has linked to the youtube video provided by the manufacturer about application of the product[1]. They recommend the use of a respirator during application; this doesn't necessarily mean anything, you won't get sued for telling someone to use a respirator when a product is safe, but it at least indicates they aren't comfortable yet to tell people to apply this without protective equipment. Like many things that require a respirator to apply, it likely becomes much safer once dry (the carrier solvent evaporates away, making the actual coating nonvolatile) [1] http://youtu.be/Ord6dTARWfo http://youtu.be/Ord6dTARWfo
- leeoniya 14y agoUseful for surfaces which only come in contact with liquids. Not so much for a lot of stuff they demonstrate though, like hammer, gloves, boots, or generally anything where the coating would rub off in less than half a day's work. Also, how many construction workers are concerned with keeping their work boots and gloves free of dirt stains? lol.
- Anechoic 14y agohow many construction workers are concerned with keeping their work boots and gloves free of dirt stains Many actually, especially toward the completion of projects when interior decorations are starting to be installed and the architect/owner/designer may demand removal of boots to prevent workers from tracking dirt on freshly laid carpet and flooring (I've seen this mostly on high-end residential but it also happens on commercial projects).
- leeoniya 14y agoi would imagine the boot removal would be required regardless in these situations. i doubt this hydrophobic coating can withstand being walked upon and thoroughly abraded by a 200lb worker after being applied to the soles of the boots - the part that actually tracks mud.
- dmhdlr 14y ago> high-end residential lol
- anigbrowl 14y agoThat sounds odd (removal of boots) to me since it compromises safety and creates liability. Hardware and paint supply stores sell tough fabric bootees that fit over regular workboots for this sort of situation.
- gph 14y agoYea, you're right it wouldn't be useful for much since it doesn't have any durability. But if they ever get around to making this durable in a construction environment it would save tons of money. Having done the bookkeeping for a small concrete construction firm I can tell you the glove expenditure alone can be several hundred dollars in just one season. Might not sound like a lot, but to a small business it really adds up.
- aaron695 14y agoThis stuff seriously seems like a game changer. Could be all hype but if it's legit I think it'll be huge. Never having to clean the toilet again in itself would be amazing. Cost reductions in business here alone is significant. Anti graffiti capabilities would make it huge for government applications. On park benches etc keeping communal equipment from ageing. The whole cleaning industry could be changed. Waterproofing electronics. Hygiene in hospitals might save many, many lives. I do like living in the future.
- GuiA 14y agoAnti-graffiti use is the first thing that sprung to my mind as well. As you said, it may all be hype- but if it delivers, I suspect that the company making it (UltraTech?) is going to have a nice few years ahead of it :)
- barbs 14y agoI wonder how long it lasts, particularly when constantly exposed to the elements?
- mixmastamyk 14y agoDon't think it would work, because taggers use knives to carve into thing half the time.
- steveklabnik 14y agoTechnically, 'taggers' refers to spray-paint only. You're referring to 'scratch.' This is because a 'tag' indicates a spot on the complexity level of the graffiti, and it's impossible to make a throwup or piece via scratch. The More You Know!
- kaybe 14y agoHow about making graffity with it in a rainy place? It could look very cool and would be hidden most of the time.
- chemmail 14y agoI see a version of this every year. Still never seen it released commercially, or even non commercially.
- Jach 14y agohttp://www.ultraeverdrystore.com/products/ http://www.ultraeverdrystore.com/products/ isn't a commercial release? (Admittedly I didn't try ordering any.)
- iamshs 14y agoWell this concept is based on superhydrophobicity. I do not know the working of this coating particularly, but it seems to be superhydrophobic. A superhydrophobic surface(SHS) is one where water has very high mobility i.e. an extremely water repelling surface. Is is due to a surface having low surface energy and a textured topography. They hold very high commercialization potential. Lotus leaf is one natural occuring example of this phenomenon. The research into this field started extensively in 1997. SHS can be employed in variety of applications theoretically i.e. cars, windshields, toilets, ketchup bottles, kettles, phones, power lines, preventing ice accumulation, on boat hulls, on shoes in rain, fabrics, solar cells, around sinks, shower curtains... the potential is unlimited. Many researchers are working on making it possible, and they are very good ones too. So after you have been primed about the subject, what is preventing their wide spread usage? Durability. Not a single one of them is able to sustain mechanical duress. And one of the most widely used chemical is Teflon, which is expensive. Hence, reapplication is not possible time and again. Many researchers are working on it, but a solution remains elusive until now. These sprays are nice such that they open the field, but much more still needs to be done in this field, since these sprays have been in market for at least 5 years now.
- troymc 14y agoThis reminds me of that spray you can buy at the shoe store. It does work, for a while. Also see "LiquiGlide": http://www.fastcoexist.com/1679878/mits-freaky-non-stick-coating-keeps-ketchup-flowing http://www.fastcoexist.com/1679878/mits-freaky-non-stick-coa...
- tekromancr 14y agoI want this on all of my clothes! How cool would that be? Never sweaty!
- Volpe 14y agowell, no... you'd drip sweat.
- tekromancr 14y agoYea, it drips on the ground instead of soaking in and making me smell bad. Worth it!
- aaron695 14y agoBut you could also never wash it?
- barbs 14y agoBut it would also never get dirty!! :D
- vacri 14y agoLook at the 'mud' test with the gloves in the video - it's far cleaner than the untreated glove, but it's still not clean.
- tekromancr 14y agoNah, he just has to rinse.
- anigbrowl 14y agoThe demo at about the 1:50 mark with the liquid gathered in the center of the glass pane is mindblowing. The firs thting I thought of was using the hydrophobic stuff as a mask for pcb fabrication using a copper sulphate solution for the hydro part. That's probably pointless for the purpose, but it seems like this would be an insanely useful manufacturing technology.
- iamshs 14y agoWell wow. You know what? "We" already came upon this idea (the last sentence) and you will be seeing something cool in about 5-7 years. :)
- ricardobeat 14y agoWhy so long?
- iamshs 14y agoBecause its not easy, and we just got started. And in research, this is not a long time. I told the timescale on the higher end of spectrum, and i'm sure lots of momentum will be added once first publication is out.
- anigbrowl 14y agoOK, you do the product development, I'll file the inevitable patent lawsuit, and we can both be famous!
- iamshs 14y ago...and rich!
- dakimov 14y agoThat's amazing. Finally such a thing has been invented. That's the future. I'm looking forward for other incredible nanomaterials.
- gyom 14y agoSpray this inside your computer everywhere except at key places requiring cooling (like on the top of the CPU). Flood the computer with water. Passive silent cooling !
- rosser 14y agoPeople are already doing immersive liquid cooling with oils. Distilled water should be safe, too, as it's completely non-conductive. EDIT: Follow-ups, thanks for the correction.
- InclinedPlane 14y agoIt won't be safe long though, it'll slowly leach various chemicals out of the components. Eventually it'll form rust which will dissolve into the water and serve as an electrolyte, and then everything will go to hell in a hand basket quickly.
- paxswill 14y agoDistilled water is a bad choice. While deionized water is non-conductive, it can act as a solvent for so many things that almost any impurities it comes in contact with will result in the water being made conductive.
- iamshs 14y agoHeat dissipation issues can arise, besides with rising temperature the coating can lose integrity. Poor heat dissipation is the reason why smartphones don't use these coatings inside the chassis to protect electronics. PS: I work on this topic, and that is why i keep replying to every post. I am not being facetious.
- gyom 14y agoI don't know whether it's a good a idea or not, but my original thinking that you'd have enough water mass to diffuse the heat sufficiently fast so that the coating would not be be subject to very high temperatures at a given location. Obviously the heat would have to transfer to the exterior environment in some way (e.g. through the floor) so this wouldn't work with smartphones.
- jonlarson 14y agoLike the article mentioned, coating a boat seems like it could be awesome. No drag, zip through the water. If it does work like that, I'd imagine we'll also start seeing it in competitive swim suits.
- elliotanderson 14y agoForgive me for not being able to find the link to reference, but this very same question came up on Reddit aswell. The company replied to the suggestion saying yes, the technology has marine uses, and coating a boat with the compound does reduce the drag - the issue being the stability of the boat is reduced in turn which means the running speed needs to be increased to compensate.
- iamshs 14y agoIt will reduce the drag, not eliminate it. Shark skin use this concept. http://www.beilstein-journals.org/bjnano/content/pdf/2190-4286-2-9.pdf http://www.beilstein-journals.org/bjnano/content/pdf/2190-42... A good introduction, and from a journal without paywalls, and having quality papers on the subject.
- alanctgardner2 14y agoKind of like when the space shuttle re-enters the atmosphere, isn't a significant portion of the slow-down caused by the pressure of the water being displaced ahead of the boat? So even with no friction, you'd still be pushed around by this giant mass of water. I'd be curious to see what the contributions of the drag on the bottom and sides of the hull versus the water ahead of the bow are. Links, anyone?
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- bambax 14y agoI so much want this... The site the OP links to is called "Global Industrial" but the only country available on the checkout page is "United States". (Why they call themselves "global" is beyond me; why they need a select box for only one option is further beyond.)
- goblin89 14y agoFor reference, there's also NeverWet[0] (I recall seeing their ad a few years ago) and MIT's ‘non-stick coating’ (has an HN thread[1]). Apparently a few superhydrophobic coating solutions exist already. On the first sight it looks like Ultra Ever Dry beat everyone in getting their product to consumer market, though. [0] http://www.neverwet.com/ http://www.neverwet.com/ [1] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4010762 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4010762
- ch 14y agoClark Griswold would be impressed.
- ashokvarma2 14y agoI guess this is what it might have felt like when people first saw plastics.
- magoon 14y agoand Bakelite
- Qantourisc 14y agoWear, tear and abrasions is what will certainly reduce the possible area of deployment. Unless this materials happens to be very resistant to abrasions.
- thomasrambaud 14y agoVery interesting technology, known since more than 10 years now and widespread in 2007-8 on the WWW. I guess many applications will be found in every day life.
- marvin 14y agoWhat no one seems to think about is the potential health consequences of this application of nanotech. This is basically something made with particles that are much smaller than your cells. The material can probably get into your body by osmosis alone. Will the materials affect your body? Cause cancer? Get stuck in your lungs? Do something else that we don't know? There has been very little research on this area, and the little research that has been done is worrying. Putting this in consumer products is a very large and uncontrolled experiment. We should be careful of starting to use materials like these with no further study or testing. There is a risk we might end up looking like the guys who brushed their teeth with radium or used a portable x-ray video machine to examine their kids' feet at the shoe store.
- sebastianavina 14y agojust wait 20 or 30 years when we found an island floating in the middle of the ocean, made of derbis from this product.
- craftkiller 14y agothe video said it creates an air barrier so I think it would be a flying island, which is much cooler.
- ashot 14y ago> and the little research that has been done is worrying. reference?
- newbie12 14y agoSee any study on micro- particulate matter.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- aaron695 14y ago"x-ray video machine to examine their kids' feet at the shoe store" Except there's no real evidence this ever hurt anyone? And xrays are an incredible medical marvel that has saved millions of lives. Fear hurts more than it ever helps, if they had delayed xrays for even a few years imagine how many more deaths there would have been. The precautionary principle is a dangerous idea that has somehow has gotten mainstream acceptance. It regularly kills people, people somehow think it's a safe concept when it's not.
- khet 14y agoCan someone buy this and do a comprehensive review?
- tomkinstinch 14y agoFor those curious about the composition of the hydrophobic coating, the FDA and USDA guidance docs talk about the constituents: http://www.spillcontainment.com/sites/default/files/FDA%20and%20USDA%20approvals%2010-1-12.pdf http://www.spillcontainment.com/sites/default/files/FDA%20an... It looks like it is fumed silica in carrier solvent with polyurethane adhesive. The fumed silica is branded "Aerosil", and made by Evonik: https://www.aerosil.com/product/aerosil/en/products/hydrophobic-fumed-silica/pages/default.aspx https://www.aerosil.com/product/aerosil/en/products/hydropho... Interestingly, it looks like Avon has a patent that covers applying hydrophobic Aerosil to keratin fibers (hair): http://www.google.com/patents/EP2293760A1?cl=en&dq=evonik+hydrophobic&hl=en&sa=X&ei=9T0WUbzZKZHviQLr3ICADQ&ved=0CDMQ6AEwADgU http://www.google.com/patents/EP2293760A1?cl=en&dq=evoni...
- fennecfoxen 14y ago"[0025] As used herein, the term "keratin fiber" includes hair of the scalp, eyelashes, eyebrows, facial hair, and body hair such as hair of the arms, legs, etc. Keratin fibers are not limited to humans and also include any keratin fibers from a mammal, such as, for example, pet hair and mammalian fur." I see. They've patented the waterproof dog. ;)
- chipotle_coyote 14y agoYou never know when one will come in handy!
- quandrum 14y agoWater proof cow? No need for barns, they can't get wet
- usaphp 14y agoThis is how Michael Phelps won his Olympic medals?
- josscrowcroft 14y agoWatching the video one wonders whether they sprayed the "untreated" side of the tests with a hydrophilic coating, to actively attract more liquid. Some of those looked a bit too sticky. Guess we'll never know :)
- danmaz74 14y agoSomething like that has been available for years in Germany. I'm wondering why it didn't have the success I expected it to. http://en.dienanoexperten.de/ http://en.dienanoexperten.de/
- Kliment 14y agoThey have no prices and no links to where you can buy things.
- danmaz74 14y agoWhen I first saw them (it must have been more than a year ago) there was an online shop, but I can't find it anymore. I also remember a discussion here in HN about the safety of the material (which is basically glass, but with a new configuration). I wonder what happened in the meantime. EDIT: found it: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1092741 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1092741
- Evbn 14y agoHeadline directly contradicts safety advice in the article. Bad NPR.
- Evbn 14y agoSo, we don't know what it is, how it works, or if the ad is fake, but this is worthy of the NPR banner? It's like they use the label "blog" to mean "BS link bait crap". We expect better from NPR.
- mattdeboard 14y agoRobert Krulwich is one of their pop-science journalists/bloggers, this is pretty much what he does. He's one of the co-hosts of RadioLab, an entertaining pop-sci radio show on NPR. I think you're disappointed because this is the first time you've been able to recognize pop science reporting for what it is.
- darrenkopp 14y agoI wonder what that would be like on a car... Would you never have to clean it again? How much water would that save in the U.S. from being wasted?
- ajays 14y agoOnly if you have a white car, though. From the specs, the color of the coating is a translucent white, so that pretty much eliminates possible use on any other paint than white. http://www.ultraeverdrystore.com/products/ http://www.ultraeverdrystore.com/products/
- SageRaven 14y agoRain-X/Fox-X hardly eliminates the need to wipe windshields or clean bathroom mirrors, so my guess is that while it will reduce time between cleanings, it won't rid the need altogether.
- Tautologistics 14y agoWhen they stuck the work gloves into water, the effect of the treated glove looked exactly like Magic Sand. I loved playing with that hydrophobic stuff when I was a kid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1id-gHQjbs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1id-gHQjbs
- atarian 14y agoIf someone were to spray themselves with this and fall into a body of water (pool, lake, ocean) wouldn't they drown? I would imagine that it would be very difficult to swim.
- saalweachter 14y agoNo home-owners in this thread? I'm thinking roof and gutters.
- WalterBright 14y agoWell, gutters don't get clogged with water. They get physically clogged with leaves and dirt. I don't think this coating would help at all with that.
- saalweachter 14y agoThey get clogged with snow & ice. I'm curious if a coating of this would let the snow and ice flow off the roof and gutters instead of freezing to it.
- JonahBraun 14y agoThe comment about painting the boat reminds me of supercavitation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supercavitation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supercavitation used to greatly increase speed of some torpedos. You could probably retain stability of the boat by painting stripes from front to back. They would act similar to fins.
- cbsmith 14y agoSuperhydrophobia is way cooler than hydrophobia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabies http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabies
- yangyang 14y agoReminded me of this: http://liquidglassshield.com/ http://liquidglassshield.com/, which looks very similar.