World-first coating developed at City University of Hong Kong can enhance medical and aerospace equipment

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A world-first self-healable anti-smudge coating successfully developed by a research team at City University of Hong Kong (CityU) could lead to production costs that are 80% lower than for existing materials.

With strong adhesion that lets it stick firmly to the bases of various materials for their protection, the new CityU coating can rapidly heal itself from damage and mechanical defects, and can thus enhance the durability of, for example, medical and aerospace equipment.

The project, “Damage-healable Anti-smudge Coating”, was developed by a team led by Dr Yao Xi, Associate Professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences. It has been published in Science Advances under the title “Supramolecular silicone coating capable of strong substrate bonding, readily damage healing, and easy oil sliding”.

Anti-smudge coatings are applied mainly to medical equipment, automobiles and electronic products. They repel liquids, which makes the surface of materials easier to clean. The production cost of such coatings is high as they conventionally rely on materials containing fluorine compounds (around US$2,000 to US$3,000 per kg). The cost will be even higher for coatings for long-term applications with better mechanical stability and scratch resistance.

As a type of smart material, self-healable materials are mainly used for conductive coatings, electronic packaging coatings and scratch-resistant coatings. In particular, they are used for equipment and devices used in industries that are extremely difficult to maintain such as aviation, aerospace and maritime. However, there is so far no self-healable technology or product available on the market that possesses the anti-smudge feature.