Advancing SafeWax, A Bio-Inspired Superhydrophobic Coating, Toward Sustainable and Climate-Resilient Crop Protection
Our latest publication in Advanced Functional Materials
As part of the SafeWax project, our latest research has been published in Advanced Functional Materials. The study presents the formulation and evaluation of a bio-inspired, biodegradable superhydrophobic coating based on fatty acids, designed to advance sustainable and climate-resilient agricultural protection.
By optimizing agriculturally compliant solvents, the team achieved a coating featuring exceptional superhydrophobicity with a contact angle of ~165°. Beyond water repellency, the coating exhibits high structural stability under prolonged UV-C radiation and offers passive thermal regulation—providing a viable strategy to reduce reliance on hazardous chemical pesticides and mitigate climate-induced plant stress.
This work represents a collaborative, multidisciplinary effort across the SafeWax consortium. Niv Ben-Arie, project coordinator Prof. Boaz Pokroy and co-authors Iryna Polishchuk, Franziska Tauber, Coralie Schneider, Elena Prudnikov, Alessia Calora, Silvia Milita, Simona Fermani, Mireia Ibanez, Ilaria Filippetti, Claudio Ratti, Matthias Kellermeier, and Markus Rückel.
