Technical Innovations

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April 2008

Nanonails enable electrically tunable surfaces

With a surface composed of tightly packed nanostructures that resemble tiny nails, thus the term "nanonails," University of Wisconsin-Madison engineers and their colleagues from Bell Laboratories have created a material that can repel almost any liquid. But with a jolt of electricity, the liquid on the surface slips past the heads of the nanonails and spreads out between their shanks, wetting the surface completely.
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