AE Photo is "Image of the Week"

4/10/2013 Written by Susan Mumm

The Imaging Technology Group at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology has chosen as an "image of the week" a photograph AE Prof. Eric Loth's research group has produced.

Written by Written by Susan Mumm

The Imaging Technology Group at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology has chosen as an "image of the week" a photograph AE Prof. Eric Loth's research group has produced.

Chosen for the week of April 29, 2008, http://www.itg.uiuc.edu/, the image is a water droplet on a nanocomposite superhydrophobic surface. According to the researchers, "The superhydrophobic (water-repellent) surface is an inorganic-organic hybrid nanocomposite coating. It is fabricated by dispersing functionalized multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) in a suitable hydrophobic polymer matrix through a cost-effective method. The method enables creation of necessary hierarchical (micro and nano-scale) surface asperities enabling superhydrophobicity. Such MWCNT-polymer dispersions can be applied as coatings to large areas that can reduce frictional losses in fluid flow systems."

The National Science Foundation's Center for Compact and Efficient Fluid Power funded the research that produced the image. Working on the photo were Loth, a Willett Faculty Scholar, and Associate Head of Undergraduate Studies; Ilker Bayer, research scientist; Darren Stevenson and Scott Robinson, Imaging Technology Group staff members; and Adam Steele, AE graduate student.


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This story was published April 10, 2013.