Professor Geumbae Lim (ME) and SeongJin Cho (ME Ph.D. candidate) developed a super-hydrophobic permeable membrane that keeps its properties if it is stretched over three times than its original size. They achieved this using fiber and nano structure. Based on the lotus effect, the membrane cleans itself easily when exposed to water.
The team used electro-spinning, which is a way to make nano scale fiber with enough voltage to make polyurethane and uniformly form a polyaniline nano complex by self-assembly. They made fine and uniform cracks and the material kept its properties even after a thousand repeated experiments and being stretched to three times its original size. It permits vapor, microscopic particles, or sound wavesto penetrates electively so it can be applied to wearable computer, flexible display, gas separation membranes, and functional masks. Also it is very economical because it does not require high temperature or a machine that can perform minutely precise operations. .
They got the first prize of the Human Tech Paper Award held by Samsung and the thesis was chosen as the cover thesis of Advanced Functional Materials, a world-class journal encompassing all topics related to materials science.