Using Virtual Walls To Quarantine Oil Spills

Researchers at the University of Missouri have discovered a method to create oil-repellent surfaces that can use used to aid uncontrollable oil spills.  Oil and other oily compounds are known to have a low-surface tension which allows them to easy spread from surface to surface with little additional tension force required to break the surface tension layer.   These researchers use micro/electromechanical methods to create these "virtual walls" which block spreading of low-surface tension liquids at their boundary line. However, these walls are not designed to capture the oils, but to only attempt to control the oil's pathway, making it controllable. This research will hopefully be used in the industrial application, as well as oil loading and transportation.






University of Missouri-Columbia (2013, December 4). Virtual wall could stop spread of oil and help build invisible barrier for oil spills. ScienceDaily.