DREAM creates new polymer coating

Innovations in microfluidics mean that there is the potential for liquids to travel on surfaces without fluid loss with a new polymer coating.

The Durable Repellent Engineered Advanced Materials Laboratory (DREAM) has manufactured a new polymer coating. The project was spearheaded by Professor Kevin Golovin from the University of Toronto Engineering, he took his inspiration from the natural world.

A researcher for DREAM, Mohammad Soltani, said “Nature has already developed strategies to transport liquids across surfaces in order to survive. We were inspired by the structural model of natural materials such as cactus leaves or spider silk. Our new technology can directionally transport not only water droplets, but also low surface tension liquids that easily spread on most surfaces.”

The polymer coating can have a significant impact for microfluidics. Supporters of the project hope that this change may pave the way to identifying conditions in just minutes by using a couple drops of blood.

Right now, microfluids don’t have the ability manage liquids well unless they have high surface tension (e.g., water). This is called cohesion, where the compound has more inclination to attach to itself rather than the channel surface it is going through.