Development of environmentally-friendly surface modification technology

— Practical realization of novel oleophobic coatings without relying on perfluorinated compounds and surface texturing —

Abstract

Development of non-adhesive and dewetting solid surfaces has attracted much attention in a wide variety of industrial applications, because such surfaces can prevent staining, corrosion and clogging, and also permit control of droplet motion. In this paper, we introduce our strategy for R&D, including classification and analysis of previous work, and establishment of a guiding principle for R&D towards practical and rapid realization of our novel oleophobic coatings. Our R&D strategy successfully reduced the transition period from Type 1 to Type 2 Basic Research and its practical realization. Furthermore, by means of seeds-needs matching between AIST and industrial companies, through PR activities and sample offers, we were able to establish our coating technology on a commercial scale within one year.