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Diving bell spiders inspire 'unsinkable' metallic structure

Researchers have taken inspiration from diving bell spiders and rafts of fire ants to create a metallic structure that won’t sink.

The advance from the University of Rochester, New York, could lead to unsinkable ships, wearable flotation devices that continue to float after being punctured, or electronic monitoring devices that can survive in long term in the ocean.

This is the claim of Chunlei Guo, professor of optics and physics, whose lab describes the structure in ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces.

The structure uses a technique developed in the lab that uses femtosecond bursts of lasers to etch the surfaces of metals with intricate micro-and nanoscale patterns that trap air and make the surfaces super-hydrophobic.

Hydrophobic surfaces could provide more efficient cooling

Superhydrophobic coating is non-toxic and economical to produce

The researchers found that after being immersed in water for long periods of time, the surfaces may start to lose their hydrophobic properties, which led the team to a solution from the natural world.

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