I-Corps: Slippery Surface Coating Technologies

I-Corps项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力涉及使用不粘和防生物污染的表面涂层，以解决公众健康和卫生问题。具体来说，我们涂料的防滑功能可以集成到医疗设备和卫生设施中，以被动地防止细菌、尿液和粪便等污染物的积累。将这种涂层集成到医疗设备中可以减少医院获得性感染和与医疗设备生物污垢相关的患者并发症。该涂层对各种液体和固体废物不具有粘性，因此可以潜在地用于最大限度地减少家庭、机构和工业卫生设施中的废水产生。这种表面涂层也有可能缓解全球水资源短缺，减少与卫生设施差有关的传染病的传播，并降低与抽水马桶的使用和维护有关的费用。I-Corps项目基于一种表面涂层技术，称为液体固化光滑表面（LESS）。LESS是一种可喷涂的抗菌污垢表面涂层，可排斥各种液体和固体。结果表明，与未经处理的对照表面相比，LESS涂层可以在几分钟内应用于各种表面，并且可以显着减少不同固体的附着力高达90%。此外，LESS涂层具有与最先进的表面相媲美的优异的抗细菌污垢性能。LESS技术旨在减少生物流体和固体废物的表面污染，在抗菌污染医疗设备和卫生设施节水方面具有潜在的应用前景。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project involves the use of a non-sticking and anti-biofouling surface coating to address public health and hygiene concerns. Specifically, the slippery function of our coatings can be integrated into medical devices and sanitation facilities to passively prevent accumulation of contaminants such as bacteria, urine, and feces. Integrating this coating into medical devices could reduce hospital acquired infections and patient complications related to biofouling of medical devices. The coating is non-sticky to various liquid and solid wastes, and therefore can potentially be used to minimize waste water generation in household, institutional, and industrial sanitation facilities. This surface coating has the potential to also mitigate global water scarcity, reduce the transmission of infectious diseases associated with poor sanitation facilities, and reduce costs associated with flush toilet use and maintenance.This I-Corps project is based on a surface coating technology, referred to as the Liquid-Entrenched Smooth Surface (LESS). LESS is a sprayable, anti-bacteria fouling surface coating that can repel various liquids and solids. Results have shown that the LESS coating can be applied to various surfaces within minutes, and can significantly reduce adhesion of different solids up to ~90% compared to untreated control surfaces. Furthermore, the LESS coating has shown exceptional anti-bacteria fouling properties comparable to the state-of-the-art surfaces. The LESS technology is designed to reduce surface fouling of biological fluids and solid wastes with potential applications in anti-bacteria fouling medical devices and water-saving for sanitation facilities.