Frost Can Be Stopped With Beetle-Inspired Technology

Hot finding for a cold need? A beetle in the desert has inspired scientists to a new discovery in frost prevention.
That's according to a team of researchers led by Virginia Polytechnic Institute (Virginia Tech), who have developed "micropatterns" of chemicals to combat the growth of frost resulting from condensation.

This could become very helpful in eliminating frost on airplane parts, windshields and condenser coils. Their report was recently published in the journal Scientific Reports.

The research involved using photolithography, or transferring geometric patterns from a surface to a silicon wafer, to create a pattern of chemicals arrayed over a surface to repel water. This ultimately prevents frost from forming. 

The team learned this technique from the Namib Desert Beetle, as a release confirmed. While that insect lives in one of the world's hottest places, it is able to gather water from the air. It does so with its bumpy shell, which has tips that collect moisture into drops. The sides of the shell have a smooth slope and lead water toward the beetle's mouth.

"I appreciate the irony of how an insect that lives in a hot, dry desert inspired us to make a discovery about frost," Jonathan Boreyko at Virginia Tech College of Engineering said in the release. "The main takeaway from the Desert Beetle is we can control where dew drops grow."

The team imitated the beetle by developing a pattern of chemicals on a tiny surface, around the size of a centimeter. They also think that this technique can be scaled to cover much larger surfaces in a water-repellant way.

Normally, keeping surfaces dry requires a good deal of energy. "That's why we are paying more attention to ways to control water condensation and freezing. It could result in huge cost savings," noted said C. Patrick Collier at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and one of the study co-authors, in the release.

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