New blog entry on easy-to-clean coatings

Dirt is a nuisance. It ruins the aesthetic appearance, it can debase technical functionalities, it may even be a health risk and is almost everywhere. So, laborious or costly cleaning is usually a must .Easy to clean and self-cleaning coatings are preventing dirt pick-up or make surfaces easy-to clean, but this effect does not last forever. Studies at Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands focus now on self-replenishing of easy to clean surfaces. Materials which have weak interaction with the surrounding media typically show good "clean-ability" properties due to the presence of low surface-energy groups at the surface. Several approaches are currently available to prepare such surfaces for coatings applications. However, many of these do not sustain low surface-tension upon the damage or wear that result from daily usage. This irreversible loss reduces the materials service-life time, raises maintenance costs and has been retarding the transfer of technology from "laboratory-designed surfaces" to industrial applications. Therefore the recovery of low-surface energy groups at the surface is critical for the sustainable development of easy-to-clean/self-cleaning coatings. One way to achieve this is to introduce self-repairing mechanisms in the coatings which can replenish the surface with low-surface energy groups after damage.