Researchers create the most water-repellent surface ever

https://www.aalto.fi/en/news/researchers-create-the-most-water-repellent-surface-ever

“Researchers have developed a new mechanism to make water droplets slip off surfaces, described in a paper published in Nature Chemistry. The discovery challenges existing ideas about friction between solid surfaces and water and opens up a new avenue for studying droplet slipperiness at the molecular level. The new technique has applications in a range of fields, including plumbing, optics, and the auto and maritime industries.

All around us, water is always interacting with solid surfaces. Cooking, transportation, optics and hundreds of other applications are affected by how water sticks to surfaces or slides off them. Understanding the molecular dynamics of these microscopic droplets helps scientists and engineers find ways to improve many household and industrial technologies.”
(snip)
“Things like heat transfer in pipes, de-icing and anti-fogging are potential uses. It will also help with microfluidics, where tiny droplets need to be moved around smoothly, and with creating self-cleaning surfaces…”

IMO: Given what we now know about the biological impacts of microplastics and PFAS, I find this discovery somewhat unsettling if unfettered use of the technology is allowed. Seems like the food chains of aquatic organisms could be especially impacted.