No more laundry: how a bug inspired Hong Kong engineers to invent clothes you never have to wash

Thanks to Hong Kong engineers you may soon be able to wash your hands of laundry forever – and it was all inspired by a tiny insect.

Researchers from the University of Hong Kong have engineered a new material that can repel “water, oil and everything in between”, while also being durable and cheap to mass produce.

The material works like a membrane surface made up of a patchwork of interconnected “micro- cavities”, much like the porous cuticles of the springtail, a tiny soil-dwelling insect. The springtail breathes through microscopic holes in its body.

“Nature is very clever. It invented [this for us],” research team leader Professor Wang Liqiu, from HKU’s mechanical engineering department, said.

Few fabrics or finishes on the market could achieve such properties, and even if they did, were often derived from chemical processes which pollute and are expensive, Wang said. “Our material uses only a physical process to modify the structure of the surface.”

Researchers said the material, costing about HK$1 per square metre, is much cheaper than commercially available products such as polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) water-repellent film.