Researchers discover unique water-repellent graphene

Researchers at the Harvey Mudd College in the U.S have made an unexpected discovery that holds exciting potential for creating robust water-repellent coatings using gas-phase-synthesized graphene (GSG) and other nanomaterials. Last summer, the researchers were working on two projects: A National Science Foundation-funded project characterizing nanocomposites and a project supported by the College’s Rasmussen Summer Research fund that involved using graphene to separate oil from water. “While working on these projects, the students discovered that water droplets falling on our graphene powder were easily sliding off and bouncing from it,” says Albert Dato, author of the paper. “This was a completely unexpected result since we weren’t even looking into this phenomenon called superhydrophobicity.”