Self-cleaning surfaces

It’s that time in the year when it’s coldest and we are all susceptible to catching a cold or a flu. There’s not much we can do about that now, but researchers at McMaster University in Canada have developed a new cling-film-like wrap that can be used to coat objects to make them bacteria-, water- and dust-repellent. This was achieved with a combination of three steps that involve heating a film of plastic to make it shrink and wrinkle, then adding nanoparticles to introduce surface roughness, and coating it in non-stick chemicals like Teflon. Tohid Didar explains to Amalia Thomas how it works...