Super-repellent coating helps toilets save water

More than 141 billion litres of water are used just to flush toilets each day, with millions of people around the world affected by water scarcity at the same time. According to the Penn State team, its coating can reduce the amount of water required to flush a toilet cleanly by 50 per cent, from six litres to just three litres.

Engineering consumer technology: Royal flush

Engineering a superbug fightback

"Poop sticking to the toilet is not only unpleasant to users, but it also presents serious health concerns," said Tak-Sing Wong, associate professor of mechanical engineering and biomedical engineering at Penn State.

"Our team has developed a robust bio-inspired, liquid, sludge- and bacteria-repellent coating that can essentially make a toilet self-cleaning."

Known as liquid-entrenched smooth surface (LESS), the coating is applied in a two-step spray. The first spray, created from molecularly grafted polymers, is the initial step in building an extremely smooth and liquid-repellent foundation.