Nanomanufacturing of surfaces for smart, energy efficient buildings and transport vehicles

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We seek to introduce an entirely new class of precise nanomanufactured surfaces for passive, energy efficient manipulation of water condensation, freezing and optical properties. The proposed surfaces will improve the energy efficiency of industrial processes, transport vehicles such as automobiles, planes and ships as well as of the built environment (through introducing smart functional coatings). Surfaces with precise nanoscale, conical features have unique features that can be tailored for a wide ranging smart-surface applications. For example, such surfaces can enable: i) tuneable and controlled manipulation of light (absorbing/reflecting/scattering) required for heat control in smart buildings; ii) ultra-low adhesion to water, oils, and offer excellent resistance to high speed droplet impact (e.g. in rain drop impacts or plane moving through clouds); iii) control of the nucleation of water condensation and freezing; and iv) surface property tunability by external stimuli (e.g. temperature or light activation) upon conformal smart coatings of these nanostructures. The proposed project will integrate these concepts to deliver a step change in smart, nanoengineered surfaces that can resist water drops impalement up to impact speeds of 50 m/s, delay of freezing down to -30C, prevent condensation accumulation on windows and suppressing reflectivity to <1% across the entire visible spectrum - properties will be tailored to the application (not all features are necessary for the same coating).