A single drop of water hitting a surface at 350 metres per second—faster than a rifle bullet—will shred most protective coatings, but this project aims to build films that survive that impact and keep repelling liquids. This matters because erosion, icing, and fouling of surfaces cost industries billions each year. Wind-turbine blades lose efficiency as ice builds up; ship hulls accumulate barnacles; pipes clog with mineral scale. Current liquid-repellent coatings are too fragile for sustained use. The researcher plans to nanoengineer robust, flexible films inspired by natural surfaces, building repellency against both water and low-surface-tension liquids throughout the material's thickness rather than just on its surface. If successful, the films could protect wind turbines, aircraft, offshore installations, and infrastructure exposed to harsh weather—without needing active heating or cleaning. Optical transparency would allow use on windows, windshields, and phone screens. A separate piezocatalytic version, retrofit to industrial or domestic pipes, could continuously break down pollutants and pathogens in flowing water, reducing water waste and the burden of antimicrobial resistance. The work is fundamental science, but its potential applications directly support the European Green Deal targets for sustainable development.
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Scientific breakthroughs into surfaces/interfaces with high overall durability are critical to meet humanity's aspirations for sustainable development. With this context, I seek to undertake fundamental research to nanoengineer new bioinspired liquid-repellent films featuring resistance to sustained high-speed impact, fatigue and continuous flow (shear). My specific objectives are to: 1) nanoengineer robust and flexible films with amphiphobicity (i.e. repellence to water and low surface tension liquid) built through thickness 2) nanoengineer multi-layered amphiphobic film with mechanical anisotropy and energy dissipative mechanisms for impact/fatigue tolerance 3) develop new insights into visco-elasto-plastic failure of the amphiphobic films using electron microscopy integrated nanomechanical tests and exploit them to engineer robust piezocatalytic films 4) perform first high-speed (~350 m/s) liquid/solid particle impact experiments on robust amphiphobic films, demonstrate their anti-icing, anti-scaling and optical transparency potential and to exploit robust piezocatalytic films to introduce continuous flow water remediation for pollution and disease control. The proposed protective nanoengineered films offer a substrate-independent solution for impact/erosion issues that plague transport systems, wind-turbines and offshore installations, and infrastructure exposed to harsh weather. These applications will also benefit from passive anti-icing/scaling potential of our films. With optical transparency, the films may prevent contamination of windows/windshields and handheld devices (e.g. phones/tablets). Furthermore, the piezocatalytic films may be retrofit to industrial/domestic pipes to enable continuous water remediation - this will reduce water waste and the antimicrobial resistance (AMR) burden, and potentially save millions of lives/year. Overall, the fellowship will contribute to sustainable development and meeting the European Green Deal targets.
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