Super-hydrophobic surfaces have fascinated scientists for years; they are behind the lotus plant's self-cleaning leaves and the gecko's super-dry and thus super-sticky feet.
These surfaces are practically impossible to wet - water beads on them and dirt and particulates do not stick to them, leading to the self-cleaning description. Chemists looking for the next best thing in clothing coatings have tried several tricks in recent years to create a coating with similar properties in the laboratory. Uncoated fibres (top) and fibres coated with multiple layers of silica nanoparticles - the same stuff as sand
The new work hinges on what is known as layer-by-layer self-assembly - basically dipping a fabric into a solution over and over again to deposit multiple layers on it.
The team from the Australian Future Fibres Research and Innovation Centre at Deakin University made their solution with tiny particles of silica.
Source: BBC News - Stain-shedding coating gets tough
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