Grant: Collaborative Research and Development Grants

Amphiphobic surfaces repel both water- and oil-born contaminants and thus exhibit excellent self-cleaning properties. On superamphiphobic surfaces, oil- and water-based contaminants bead up and roll off readily. A superamphiphobic surface stays clean for much longer than a normal untreated surface. These coatings can protect surfaces from graffiti and metals from rusting. When applied onto hand-held electronic devices such as iPad screens, they can reduce fingerprint and smudge deposition. They can also be applied on power transmission lines to reduce ice formation and thus damages from ice storms. While superamphiphobic coatings are useful, current coatings are not durable. Thus, practical superamphiphobic coatings remain a dream but reality. The Liu group has recently patented ideas on the generation of durable amphiphobic coatings and these initial core technologies have been licensed to Lorama Group Inc., an Ontario-based company that specializes in the manufacturing of coating additives, for commercial amphiphobic coatings. While the amphiphobic coatings that they have reported so far do indeed have improved wear resistance relative to those reported in the literature, their current coatings are still not wear resistant enough for demanding applications. In addition, the methods and reagents that they have used so far are expensive. Thus, much improvement is required of their current protocols to yield commercially viable amphiphobic coatings. The objective of this project is to build on their initial success and to develop various practical and scalable protocols for commercial production of amphiphobic coatings by Lorama. The developed coatings will possess various degrees of amphiphobicity and wear resistance, meeting challenges of different applications and serving as the prototypes for products of various generations. Therefore, the success of this project will position Lorama as a world leader in this field. More importantly, the resultant products will improve the living standards of society and enhance the technological and economical competitiveness of Canada.