You say science hasn’t done anything for you since the space program brought us Teflon pans? Well, think again, the age old problem of just how to get that last bit of condiment out of the bottle is finally solved by those cunning engineers at MIT.

Household use

The burning question of just how to best get the last bit of Ketchup out of the bottle is finally solved! Liquiglide technology can be applied to glass or plastic and is the first and, so far, only permanently wet surface - that’s what makes it so slippery. Physically it combines a surfacing technology and a separate coating which sticks to the special surface.

OK, there is something which can be applied to glass, plastic or even metal containers which makes the surface so slippery that everything just comes right out, but how safe is the coating? Paint cans fine, but would you really want to use it on a food container?

Well, yes actually. MIT materials scientists developed not a new Teflon-type chemical, but a physical process which in many instances uses some of the ingredients in the product as the coating so the coating is as safe as the product itself, or not, depending on what's in the container.

Industrial applications

There is actually a huge amount of waste in homes and industry from 5 to 20% of liquid produces remain in the container and it just takes too much time to remove it to be cost effective.

Estimates are that in the United States alone the amount of waste is upwards of 200,000,000 gallons of various products each year.

Being able to get every last drop out of containers not only reduces waste and costs, it also makes the container much easier to recycle.

Medicine

The applications in medicine are very important. Many of the fluids which pass through tubes and valves can coagulate, for example, blood.

While Liquiglide technology can’t stop the clotting, what it can do is make the surfaces so slippery that instead of clogging the apparatus, the coagulate can just pass right through.

Dosage is also another critical factor in many medical applications and using Liquiglide means eyedroppers and other measuring devices can produce much more precise dosages.

The same process can be applied to catheters and endoscopes which reduce the chance of injury and make the insertion and removal much less painful for the patient.

Public safety

The safety applications for Liquiglide are almost endless but just consider two critical potential lifesaving uses.

First, the technology could be applied to aircraft wings and other surfaces so ice would not form and stick either while sitting on the ground or in flight. It might even make the surface more slippery and therefore more aerodynamic. Second, in the middle of winter, we realize once again just how vulnerable we are to loss of power. Consider if power lines were to have this ultra slippery coating. It could virtually end the problem of ice buildup on power lines.

There are also potential applications in manufacturing. In water treatment facilities this could make the entire process more efficient, including in desalination. Please note, this is not a consumer product, there is nothing you can buy, it is a manufacturing process which can be applied to numerous products and devices.