Ultra-Ever Dry. LiquiGlide. Two non-stick coatings use nanotechnology to make short work of common frustrations. The names say it all, but to really believe it, you need to watch the demo videos. The mercury-like look of water beading up and rolling off various surfaces, and the speed and ease of bottle contents completely sliding away clean both need to be seen; words don’t cut it.
If these coatings were made widely available on a global scale, the impact on waste reduction in a wide cross-section of industries (food, cosmetics, cleaning products, paints, adhesives, etc.) would be huge. Health and safety would also be significantly improved with the reduction of chemical waste disposal. On an individual level, those bottles of ketchup and mayo would go further, and it would be so much easier to rinse off what little mud and oil sticks to your gloves and boots… win-win all around for big and small.
On a personal note (having worked on technical jackets for OOITO functional urbanwear), Ultra-Ever Dry can be used on things you already own. Maybe it can reduce the need to buy new things which match the job but not your aesthetics. It “produces a hard surface… nearly transparent with a slightly white haze… can appear white if heavily applied.” So probably not going to knock supple breathable GORE-TEX out of the game at this point, but it has interesting implications.
• Ultra-Ever Dry
– waterproofing, oil-proofing, anti-icing, anti-corrosion, chemical-resistant
– 2-step air dry spray coating
– recommended for wood, metal, glass, rope and fabrics, plastics, rubber and paper products
Official description:
“Ultra-Ever Dry is a superhydrophobic (water) and oleophobic (hydrocarbons) coating that will completely repel almost any liquid. Ultra-Ever Dry uses proprietary nanotechnology to coat an object and create a barrier of air on its surface. This barrier repels water, oil and other liquids unlike any coating seen before. The other breakthrough associated with Ultra-Ever Dry is the superior coating adherence and abrasion resistance allowing it to be used in all kinds of applications!”
• LiquiGlide
– food-safe coating
– can custom-design the speed at which the liquid slides down the container surface
– developed by MIT scientists
Official description:
“Liquid-impregnated surfaces are a patent pending super-slippery surface technology developed at MIT. It is a composite of solid and liquid materials, where the solid holds the liquid tightly at the surface and the liquid provides the lubricity.”
>> Ultra Ever Dry website
>> LiquiGlide website
Addendum: Ultra-Ever Dry can be purchased online, while LiquiGlide is “only being produced in limited quantities and is not yet available on a commercial scale.”