KARLSRUHE, Germany - Both water and oil droplets roll off a new class of highly fluorinated super-repellent polymers called “fluoropore.” Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) has allocated €2.85 million for further development of the material by researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). Fundamental research in this area is aimed at making use of this new material for universal protective coatings.
The phenomenon of water droplets rolling off of leaves is found in lotus plants as well as cabbage. For some time, this lotus effect has been used to produce rough surfaces with special chemical properties. “However, this trick does not work for oils – the lotus plant repels water, but no oil,” said Bastian Rapp of the KIT Institute of Microstructure Technology (IMT). “Oil-repellent surfaces need to have another chemical structure, fluoropolymers are required for this purpose.” Fluoropolymers are high-performance plastics with a high heat resistance and chemical stability. Teflon, the known anti-stick coating material for frying pans, belongs to this category of substances.