Scientists have copied the wings of a butterfly and the leaves of a plant to help create a new standard of "super-hydrophobic" material. A team working at MIT studied the wings of a Morpho butterfly and the veins of nasturtium leaves to create a surface with many tiny silicon ridges that cause water to bounce off 40 percent more efficiently than was previously thought possible.

Professor Kripa Varanasi lead the team that designed the new surface. In the description of the work published in Nature journal, the professor reveals how adding the tiny silicon ridges is able to change the theories behind waterproofing so drastically.

"Here we demonstrate that it is possible to reduce the contact time below this theoretical limit by using super-hydrophobic surfaces with a morphology that redistributes the liquid mass and thereby alters the drop hydrodynamics. We show theoretically and experimentally that this approach allows us to reduce the overall contact time between a bouncing drop and a surface below what was previously thought possible," said Varanasi. 

The basic idea behind the ridges is to try to stop water droplets from gripping the surface of the object. The droplets hit the surface, and the momentum of the droplets causes their form to warp and slide off the surface without getting any moisture on the surface. These small silicon ridges based on the Morpho wings break water droplets into tiny pieces, so they can't grip the surface. Previous waterproofing techniques mimicked lotus leaves by making water droplets hit surfaces in rounded shapes and causing the whole water droplet to bounce off.

This new technique can be used in a wide range of products to help make them safer. One example is using the tiny ridges on airplane engines. This allows airplanes working at high altitudes to avoid collecting moisture in the engine, which could potentially cause them to ice over. The technique also makes turbine engines run more efficiently. Varanasi explained to the BBC why this technique has so many uses:

"The key challenge is durability...Most super-hydrophobic materials are fragile polymers - they don't stand up to abrasion, or high temperatures. But combining our textures with stronger materials - such as metals and ceramics - we can overcome these durability challenges."

Look out for more news about this exciting new waterproofing technique right here at Latino Post as it begins to be put to use in a variety of different ways.