Hydrophobic ceramics made from rare-earth metals

MIT Technology Review : Hydrophobic materials cause water to bead up on their surfaces rather than adhere to them. Such a property can be useful in industrial processes that rely on condensation. Because most such materials are thin polymers that degrade easily, however, they have not been widely used. Now, Kripa Varanasi and Gisele Azimi of MIT have developed hydrophobic ceramics that can endure extreme temperatures and physical wear. The two chose to work with the 13 nonradioactive rare-earth metals because their electron structure suggested they might be hydrophobic. The researchers compressed and heated powdered oxides of the metals into pellets via a process called sintering . The resulting ceramics all displayed hydrophobic behavior. Being ceramics, the materials were all very resistant to extreme temperatures. And because the hydrophobic property is intrinsic to the material, its effect isn’t reduced when the material is damaged. Robust hydrophobic materials could find widespread use in construction materials, medicine, and industrial plants.