A technology that removes oil from the surface of water without pumps or chemicals has been developed by German researchers at the Universities of Bonn (www.uni-bonn.de) and Aachen (www.uni-aachen.de) and textile-manufacturer Heimbach GmbH (Düren, Germany; www.heimbach.com). Textiles with special surface properties passively skim off the oil and move it into a floating container. The study has now been published in the journal Philosophical Transactions A. The textile surfaces are modeled after the floating fern Salvinia: its leaves are superhydrophobic, so when submerged they wrap themselves in an air jacket and remain completely dry. At the same time, the Salvinia surface is superoleophilic. “This allows the leaves to transport an oil film on their surface [photos],” explains Wilhelm Barthlott, professor emeritus of the University of Bonn and former director of its botanic gardens. “And we have also been able to transfer this property to technically producible surfaces, such as textiles.”
Learn about our two Decals!
Click here to find out more about our Fall Bioinspired Design Decal and our Spring Bioinspired Design in Action Decal – ALL MAJORS are welcome.Berkeley BioDesign Community
Click here to learn about the BioD: Bio-Inspired Design @ Berkeley student organization or here to signup for more info.
I imagine that the neurological circuits underlying these processes are governed by both 2d spacing maps with their brains as…
to reduce the impact of car accidents, it may be possible to study the force diverting physics of cockroaches to…
you see this type of head-bobbing stability in many avian creatures related to pigeons like chickens. the head ability to…
not like they taught horses how to run! this is an example of convergent evolution where both sea creatures and…
The brain functions in a similar way with neuronal connections. our brains are able to utilize the multiplicity of connections…