mPhase Technologies, Inc. (OTC.BB:XDSL - News), a leader in the development of Smart Surfaces and advanced battery technologies, today announced that an article describing research they are conducting in developing techniques for giving hydrophobic and superhydrophobic repelling properties to non-silicon materials, such as glass fibers, for use in potential applications or devices benefiting from microfluidic delivery and energy storage, have been showcased in a recent issue of the Journal of Porous Materials.
The Journal of Porous Materials is an international, interdisciplinary periodical focused on the rapid publication of high quality, peer-reviewed papers on synthesis, processing, characterization and evaluation of all porous materials. The journal addresses the dramatic pace of progress in the design and synthesis, characterization and property evaluation of porous materials for catalysis, separations and sensors.
The title of the article, "Preparation and Electrowetting Transitions on Superhydrophobic/Hydrophilic Bi-layer Structures," presents a simplified and cost reduced method of preparing porous superhydrophobic materials using glass fiber materials and special coatings developed by the mPhase team. The materials presented by the mPhase team show all of the attributes of the previously reported Si-based materials, while showing new and improved characteristics such as flexible, compliant nature, simple fabrication route from the widely used, commercially available glass fiber materials and, potentially, dramatically reduced fabrication cost.
The article goes on to describe how the structures of the filter material provide for the "surface roughness" on the micro and nano-scale, which is required for achieving a superhydrophobic state. The article demonstrates how this approach can be used to prepare fibrous, non-silicon materials as potential approaches for separating mixtures such as water and gasoline or oil, while repelling the water and preventing it from permeating through the fiber material and as flexible substrates for lab-on-a-chip analytical devices.
The article on the bi-layer materials can be found online at the publisher's web site with the following URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10934-010-9406-0. A courtesy copy of the article can also be found on the mPhase web site at http://www.mphasetech.com/pdfarticles/mphase_hydrophilic.pdf