Hydrophobic, dirt-shedding spray is indistinguishable from magic

"Ultra Ever Dry" is a nanomaterial spray-coating that is (apparently) insanely hydrophobic, shedding dirt, water and oil. The jaw-dropping product video suggests many possibilities, from extreme hydroplaning sports to odd molecular gastronomy possibilities (though it's not rated food-safe, so caveat sprayer). If you're impatient, just zip the video to 2:00 or so and marvel.

What is it? The company says it's a "coating" that will repel almost any liquid by creating a barrier of air on the surface. They don't say what's in the coating. Whatever it is, the How to Apply This Product video suggests you don goggles, gloves and protective gear when you spray. They claim it will protect in temperatures ranging from -30 degrees Fahrenheit to 300 degrees Fahrenheit, but durability is a question. In the video, they say abrasion might affect performance (which makes me wonder how long a pair of sprayed boots would stay dry if you were on a wet, slippery, rocky hiking trail). It's expensive. The base coat is $57.95 and the top coat is $100.95 a quart. On the other hand, if you dare to spray it on your car windows, you wouldn't need window wipers. Or would the windows get too cloudy? If you sprayed it on a car surface, would it affect the gloss? Probably.

Next Time Your Mom Says Don't Go Out in The Rain, Spray Yourself With This [Robert Krulwich/NPR]

(Thanks, Fipi Lele!)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

MORE: Gadgets • happy mutants • new materials • Science • videos • youtube

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Eurovision 2013: An American in London

The technology that links taxonomy and Star Trek

Engineer_

As a Marine Engineer, I need this. I need this everywhere.
- http://twitter.com/jebyrnes jebyrnes
  
  As a marine biologist who puts tons of crap everywhere underwater, I had the exact same thought. Maybe I can make my permanent transect markers, you know, permanent!
millie fink

My first thought — can I spray in on my dog?
timquinn

They have a picture of dorian grey somewhere that is getting really dirty.
GuyInMilwaukee

I bet this would work nicely on fullbody swim suits for people who race.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Shawn-Goldwater/806673997 Shawn Goldwater

And it probably causes cancer.
- Benjamin Palmer
  
  I bet if you coat your organs in it, cancer slides right off.
- millie fink
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEzcLTAMrRA
- http://twitter.com/randomhuman random
  
  The question is, HOW MUCH cancer does it cause? I’d be ok with a little bit of cancer if it stopped my hairdo from getting messed up in the rain.
Fantome_NR

SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!!!
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1344056833 Rick Gray

I give taggers less than a month to find a workaround.
- johnnyaction
  
  Sandpaper!
- Sam Ley
  
  Tip – use this stuff to tag surfaces, then as the surface gets naturally dirty over time, your “negative graffiti” becomes more and more visible.
  - http://twitter.com/fossilfuels Funk Daddy
    
    It is available in custom colours but apparently minimums apply.
    
    Maybe buy translucent white base, then you only need top coat in colours. Would also assure that the area around tag gets fugly as hell while your tag remains pristine. Lasts for years in outdoor applications according to maker
    
    But, you would probably need to be rich to acquire a decent palette even in top coat alone
- zippy_monster
  
  Out here we’ve got graffiti resistant plastic windows on the streetcars. So, no, we don’t get graffiti painted all over them. Instead we get graffiti carved out of them.
http://www.geekforce.com Hugh Johnson

I need to coat the bottom of my car with this. Road salt be damned!
- JProffitt71
  
  Wouldn’t that up the probability of hydroplaning to like 100%? No, what you need to do is put this on the bottom of a sled. FUN WILL BE HAD!
  
  Edit: Now I see what you mean, good idea!
  - Sean Nelson
    
    Um. If you are up to the body of your car in water, you’re not really hydroplaning. You’re car-boating, and are kinda screwed either way. I think Hugh Johnson just wants to keep salty slush from clinging to his car when it gets splashed up there.
    - JProffitt71
      
      Yeah I’m a dummy. It’s a good idea, there is a ton of stuff we could do with this.
  - Antinous / Moderator
    
    No, what you need to do is put this on the bottom of a sled.
    
    And ending our broadcast on a sad note, little Billy Miller died today when his snow saucer hit the Watson’s barn at 400 miles per hour.
Michael Polo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSdm_eA1Css

I knew it would come, eventually.
- crenquis
  
  that was my first thought:
  “Oh the Crunch enhancer?
  Yeah it’s a non-nutritive cereal varnish. It’s semi-permiable. It’s not osmotic. What it does is it coats and seals the flake, prevents the milk from penetrating it.”
tb

The perfect anti-graffiti coating.
- First Last
  
  The first response of taggers to “oh, I can’t write on this…” is always “oh, I can scratch this!”
Sam Ley

It does look cool – there are a variety of super-hydrophobic coatings out there, but the real question isn’t how well it works today, but how it will respond to UV, physical abrasion, oxidation, etc. Those are the properties that would really determine how useful it is in the real world.

And don’t make too much of the “spray with goggles and mask” – that is standard procedure for spraying essentially all coatings (aerosolized anything is bad for your lungs – vegetable oil, furniture polish, deck stain, automotive paint, latex paint, etc.).
http://twitter.com/fossilfuels Funk Daddy

dayum, dependent upon its durability specifically abrasion resistance that is a fine product at a fine price. They dont mention UV, it needs to be somewhat UV resistant to be all that good for marine applications, plus water and refined oils don’t mean much if it cant do brine

but still, so many application outside that…
http://excelsior-station.wikidot.com Sarge Misfit

You do know that the dry cleaning lobby is going to quash this, right?

But seriously, there’s a zillion uses for this. Its effin’ amazing. What about boat hulls coated with it, would water drag be reduced? Eliminate the need to take your car to the car wash. Anti-graffiti? Public transit seating? Restaurant tables? Computer monitors and touch screens?
- http://www.matthewpetty.com/ Matthew Petty
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_in_the_White_Suit
greebo

Okay, so how do they get it to stick to any of those surfaces in the first place?
- splashu
  
  My guess is that since there are two separate coatings they become hydrophobic when the top coat combines with the base coat.
  - Ean Moody
    
    I’d actually guess the bottom coat is a specialized adhesive that bonds selectively to the top coat material. I’d assume the top coat lacks a binder material at all, so that whatever nanotrickery they’ve got going on is directly exposed.
http://twitter.com/fossilfuels Funk Daddy

“The other breakthrough associated with Ultra-Ever Dry is the superior coating adherence and abrasion resistance allowing it to be used in all kinds of applications where durability is required. Ideal for use on metals, plastics, wood and fabric. Must be used with top coat (sold separately) in equal parts on the initial application for coating to work properly. Quart can covers 42 square feet.”

From seller?manufacturer? website. Still, need an MDS
blueelm

I’m so lazy… I’m just thinking…. shower walls. This could mean I never have to wash the shower walls.
- Greg Webster
  
  If you put it on the bathtub, you definitely will require stick-on ducks.
  - Ean Moody
    
    The interesting thing I notice is that it only seems to repel water. It seemed like he was able to get a decent grip on those muddy twigs, so it might actually not be that slippery to stand on… after all, without any water on the surface, it’d be bone dry and soap free.
http://twitter.com/agbullet agbullet

My concern with this is that people are definitely going to use this on marine equipment.

Without knowing exactly what’s in it, how well it holds up to the weather and saltwater, and what happens to it once it disappears into the ocean,we could be setting ourselves up for some ecological disaster that our kids will look at with 20/20 hindsight and wonder WTF we were thinking.
- TheOven
  
  Right. Like plastic. Wonder product – never breaks down. Ever. Every single plastic thing you’ve ever seen is still out there. Every straw, every toy, every lid to your coffee hasn’t broken down into anything but smaller bits of plastic. Now that plastic is starting to show up in fish and the animals that eat them.
  
  So I’m a little leery of this product – perhaps because it works too well.
  - austinhamman
    
    for the longest time nothing ever broke down nylon…until something evolved the ability to break down nylon. lot’s of plastic in the environment just means some species die but new plastic eating species can thrive…of course whether we still have a place in that world is another story.
  - Tim Thomas
    
    Actually, there was a fungus discovered in South America that feeds on plastic. http://www.psfk.com/2012/03/plastic-eating-fungi.html
- http://twitter.com/fossilfuels Funk Daddy
  
  Good question,
  
  main ingredients according to website of top coat 96-98% Acetone 2-4% Silica (fumed silica) and <1% proprietary
  
  fumed silica is used in a shit ton of stuff we put on bodies already, acetones are common
  
  the proprietary is ?? but I guess complete guess is that it is what makes the binding work well -edit, I guess wrongly, the proprietary additives provide abrasive resistance to cured product
  
  base coat is copy paste
  Ingredient % by Wt C.A.S. No.
  Xylene 66 106-42-3
  Naptha 12 64742-89-8
  Hexane 6 110-54-3
  Methylethylketone 2 78-93-3
  Toluene 5 108-88-3
  Proprietary Polymer 9 -
  Proprietary Additive <1 -
  
  Which according to the sheet has no carcinogens listed by many groups like EU, OSHA, NTP etc
  
  2 proprietary ingredients dunno
  
  Overall there are worse things already in heavy heavy use IMO, particularly vinyls, in marine applications
  - http://www.xradiograph.com/ OtherMichael
    
    Proprietary ingredients include an unknown glowing green substance which fell to Earth, presumably from outer space.
    - Antinous / Moderator
      
      Do not taunt hydrophobic, dirt-shedding spray.
    - Robert
      
      Replace it with coal tar, see what happens.
      - S van Breda
        
        “I understood that reference…!”
http://twitter.com/fossilfuels Funk Daddy

http://www.spillcontainment.com/everdry
Bevatron Repairman

I just like the idea of it on my eyeglasses. I hate contacts but like to be outside, even in a moderate downpour.
- http://twitter.com/fossilfuels Funk Daddy
  
  It says “translucent white” for colour so I dunno. And you would need a superior spray application to avoid inadvertently changing your prescription if it can be seen through
  
  edit- yep, transparent cannot be had as yet.
  - Bevatron Repairman
    
    Dang. I’ll just drown my sorrows in this transparent aluminum beer can that hasn’t been invented yet.
    - austinhamman
      
      for all we know maybe you’re the one who invents it.
  - ObeyMyBrain
    
    Yeah, looking at the part with the green liquid on the sheet of glass, that glass isn’t very reflective anymore.
- http://fallsastar.com Crashproof
  
  I just ordered some glasses from Zenni with hydrophobic, oleophobic, anti-reflective coating. I’ll see how good that turns out to be.
paul_leader

This stuff is insane. Imagine how much less cleaning we’d have to do if all our windows and cars were coated with this stuff.

I’d love to see what happens if you put it on the hull of a boat.

I wonder if this would last on the soles of my hiking boots? No more accumulating massive clods of soil on your feet when walking over muddy fields.
And presumably this kind of thing is going to eat GoreTex for breakfast.
- http://twitter.com/fossilfuels Funk Daddy
  
  Put it on Gore-Tex and it will be more water resistant than previously but you lose all te properties that make Gore-Tex worth having. Benefit of Gore-Tex is venting moisture though the almost one-way membrane via your own heat. So if you treat your goretex socks you get sweatbags
rocketpjs

Sailboat racers will be all over this. The cleanliness of your boat bottom is often the difference between first and fifteenth.

I wonder if it would let us boaters stop using all that awful ‘biocidal’ paint on our boats?
- TheOven
  
  Prolly make the boat faster too.
- zuludaddy
  
  You know Larry and the Oracle boys are on this.. Remember the AC33 tri and the “soap dispenser”?
Kenmrph

If I coat the inside of a glass with this stuff, would it be impossible to fill the glass with water?
- TheOven
  
  It doesn’t negate gravity eh.
  - Kenmrph
    
    How disappointing.
    - austinhamman
      
      but it may be hard as hell to fill it up (as the water will keep moving as you pour it in and likely come back out…physics eh?…you’d have to do it slowly to keep the inertia of the liquid down)
      - TheOven
        
        So in this case I guess it would depend on the shape of the glass. It would have to be designed like a dog’s bowl and direct the splashes back in to the glass.
      - austinhamman
        
        yeah or pour from within the glass (remember the water can only come back up as far as it went down)
        one shaped in such a way that the water went back into the bowl would look awesome, because the only thing that would slow it down would be air resistance so it would be spinning around in circles for a while. put it in a vacuum and it may never stop (before you think “perpetual motion machine” something can move forever but if you try to extract work from it you remove energy from the system and slow it down. if it is just moving forever there is no real problem)
        
        oops forgot that there is still friction with this material it’s just greatly reduced. but were you pouring a superfluid it would be a whole other story
  - http://hgomersall.wordpress.com/ heng
    
    Actually, superfluidic liquid helium (that is, with zero friction), will run over the side of the beaker, apparently defying gravity: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superfluidity
- Felton / Moderator
  
  I assume that the stuff, unable to dispel the water, would itself leap from the glass in panic.
Jeff Peake

Best possible use for this product, Super Magic Sand+.
Mat Linnett

Did I see the similar Liquiglide linked here a few months back?
http://www.liqui-glide.com/applications/
jeaguilar

Hmm, how much would it cost to spray my roof or to treat the shingles with this. Or to create a better shingle.

Just thought of something else: I’d never have to shovel snow or pick ice off my stairs and walkway again. (Subject to abrasive wear).
- gadgetphile
  
  It might be a bit slippery especially when walking from a wet surface. This assumes you dont want the stuff on the bottom of your shoes (or tires).
snagglepuss

I wonder what crooks could do with this. Imagine if it repelled the oils in fingerprints. So long, evidentiary bloodstains !
missamo80

When I was at Costco last weekend they were selling a toilet plunger coated with something similar. They even had a demo station set up with a magic and non-magic plunger. It was insane how the water came off the magic one.
- JProffitt71
  
  Ha fun! I saw that one too at my Costco, it was the neverWet coating.
http://www.twitter.com/eselqueso eselqueso

Why has nobody but me imagined the ridiculous sensual/sexual possibilities of body parts and other toys covered with this stuff? Actually, please don’t answer that.
- austinhamman
  
  fleshlights would require less cleaning…but they couldn’t hold lube and as such would probably burn. the lack of holding lube makes dildos less effective (though i suppose lube on the body would work, the dildo would be repelled from the lube and slide nicely…though the friction is kinda important)
  putting it on a condom means you would slide into and out of your partner easily enough, but again without any friction there is nothing to stimulate the nerves and it’s fun for only one person…and even that is reduced.
  - TheOven
    
    Why would you need lube?
    - austinhamman
      
      depends on where it’s going…
Chandler Lewis

Easy remedy to rising oceans.
- http://www.xradiograph.com/ OtherMichael
  
  Not if somebody sprays this on the bottom of the oceans!
big ryan

i want to spray this stuff on the bottom of my surfboard, and on my wet suit, and on my hair so it always looks perfectly dry and styled while im surfing
Tribune

so if it repels oil… is it strictly hydrophobic?
- http://twitter.com/fossilfuels Funk Daddy
  
  It’s a level up from hydrophobic, called super-hydrophobic. But it is also oleophobic
  - Tribune
    
    So is Super-hydrophobic a technical term or a marketing term?
    - esquire
      
      The marketing term is Super-hydrophobic XP Aledocius.
    - http://twitter.com/fossilfuels Funk Daddy
      
      Technical. google lotus effect, bewary of pron among cool videos demonstrating super-hydrophonic surfaces/implements
      - Tribune
        
        thank you
semiotix

When applied to a boat hull, it converts the boat to a hovercraft, so marine pollution shouldn’t be an issue.

It’s not easy to make a surface that is both hydro- and oleophobic, so kudos to whoever came up with this. Essentially what they’ve done is created the most unlikeable material yet known to science, a surface that is such a toxic asshole that even chemicals with low self-esteem who are usually, you know, kind of attracted to that kind of mistreatment are repelled. My guess is they synthesize it from tears harvested from internet trolls as they cry themselves to sleep.
- http://profiles.google.com/maurice.reeves Maurice Reeves
  
  This image made me laugh heartily for a long time. And repulsed me a little, which means you’ve won BoingBoing for the day. Go home, take the day off work, you’re a winner!
- Greg Webster
  
  I have a dumb question. Does a propeller work by using friction to push the water, or by the hydraulic properties of the push against water?
  
  Probably also worded badly.
  - http://www.matthewpetty.com/ Matthew Petty
    
    Also, what happens if the propeller is on a treadmill?
  - austinhamman
    
    a propeller moves water from in front of it to behind it, this created negative pressure in front and positive pressure behind, as the water moves to restore balance the craft moves forward to do it all again.
    friction is not needed and in fact the LESS friction the better, the key is the shape.
  - http://twitter.com/jasontaylor7 Jason Taylor
    
    The latter.
- http://www.xradiograph.com/ OtherMichael
  
  tears harvested from internet trolls lend a delicious umami taste to anything.
Lothario Escobar

Prank toilet paper.
- JProffitt71
  
  Now you’re thinking with superhydrophobic coatings!
- Donald Petersen
  
  Oh, that’s dirty pool. Your victim thinks he’s just taken the coveted “phantom dump” that leaves behind a clean-wipe surface, but no. Oh, no he didn’t.
- http://profiles.google.com/westcarleton Ray Perkins
  
  Nah, just spray your butt with it; you won’t need paper.
http://es-la.facebook.com/amilcarortega Amílcar Ortega

Alan Moore predicted this in “Promethea”, he called it elastagel.
- http://twitter.com/fossilfuels Funk Daddy
  
  Odd name for a coating that doesn’t have properties like elasticity and isn’t gelatinous
Michael Polo

Coating tubes to pull water against gravity (capillary action) would be a good application. Plants do this, and I imagine it would be much easier to do if the tubes were super slippery.
- CLamb
  
  Capillary action is based on the ability of water to wet the interior of the capillaries. This will prevent capillary action.
technogeekagain

(Never mind; most of my questions are in fact answered — or at least cited as questions — with a bit more reading.)
http://twitter.com/Listener43 Listener43

Hydrophobia is simply pseudo-scientific jargonese for rabies, my friends.
Ask yourself this – are you willing for this corporation (MY GOD! A CORPORATION!!!) to infect countless puppies with rabies simply to make your gardening gloves easier to clean?!
You’ve a harder heart than mine if you can collaborate with these evil swine.
Not on my watch. No sir!
niktemadur

“Mommy, mommy! Can I go out to play?”
“Sure honey, just close your eyes for a minute and let me spray this on you…”
- http://www.matthewpetty.com/ Matthew Petty
  
  Wasn’t there a scene in the Jetsons like that? It’s raining, so they spray a raincoat on the kid before he goes to school.
http://twitter.com/louiedog louiedog

I’d treat my umbrellas. No more worrying about them in the wet umbrella bin and no more dripping water everywhere.
- fakefighter
  
  Or boots. Great for Toronto, eh. Though I wonder if you’d end up spritzing snow on everyone’s faces as you walked around.
- TheOven
  
  OMG, that keeps me up at nights too!
E T

How do things with this coating decompose?
Will land fills and dumps be full of things that repel moisture and resist all bacteria?
- Tribune
  
  It will repel all the garbage and empty the land fill solving the crisis of overflowing landfills. Also the bacteria that do manage to eat it will repel all food sources and starve to death or become death itself oh wait I was not supposed to release the zombie creating property information to the public?
- cavalrysword
  
  You are only coating one side….
CLamb

If only this coating was clear it would be great for preventing condensation from fogging up glass.
Bevatron Repairman

I think this would be terrific for aircraft de-icing (or, rather, to obviate the need for de-icing at all). I fucking love science!
- Sarah Anderson
  
  Or aircraft in general. I wonder what it does for laminar airfoil drag?
oasisob1

When does Fipi Lele become BB staff with direct post authority?
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  Why buy the cow…?
Luther Blissett

jebyrnes, as a marine biologist, you actually ought to apply some scepticism to the idea the stuff is used in larger quantities. I’m positive that it only works if nano-scale particles are a part of the game. These will end up in your transects, one way or the other. They might accumulate, via plancton, in the foodchain. This stuff needs research. A lot of research.

Oh, and just by the way, Engineer_, dig this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1D4g_XWhyKs
- cavalrysword
  
  Ach du lieber! Vas ist loss?
franko

my first thought was: zomg, cleanup of playa dust from burning man is going to get SO MUCH EASIER.
http://levibreederland.com/ Levi Breederland

Looking out my window, I wonder: what does it do with snow? If it was cheaper, could it be used as a coating for roads so they don’t ice up?
snipehunt

Great production value on this portal fan animation, but perplexing that they didnt include any characters.
http://www.dieselsweeties.com R. Stevens

This stuff is different than NeverWet, right? I want NeverWet so badly.
gellfex

What happens when you coat the inside of a pipe with this? Do you get frictionless laminar flow, or no benefit? There’s lots of “pie in the sky” tech that frictionless flow would solve, like ocean-thermal power generation.
http://twitter.com/TimmoWarner Timmo Warner

This will be an amazing diet drink.

One can and you’ll be lucky if you ever absorb nutrients again.
Nezrite

Newmaterial?
http://www.kissmyassnigger.com/ kissmyassn!gger

Spray this on your ass and you dunno have to wipe it anymore! :D yieeahhh
mocon

I predict 6 months before they start frying zero-calorie potato chips in this stuff.
pjcamp

Does it work on children? Specially babies.
Mister44

Aw man – who is Fipi Lele? I was all excited that a submission I sent in was greenlit.I guess I wasn’t the first to see this that day.
http://www.karljones.com karl_jones

It will be weaponized — “non-lethal weapon” weaponized.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=601684471 Marjo Aho

Just don’t accidentally inhale or ingest or get it on your skin… imagine waterproofing your stomach. Probably not so good.
rationalthought

Tent.
I can’t believe no one has said that yet.
http://rishel.org jrishel

apply to inside of toilet. Never need to scrub the bowl again, or even fill the bowl with water.