Water is the main cause of lost function in electronic devices. Millions of mobile phones and many other devices are damaged by water annually. There is therefore a large opportunity to offer consumers protection for their electronics against water and moisture damage. Liquid repellent, thermal, conductive, magnetic and anti-corrosive nanocoatings have been applied inside and outside electronic devices, but to now have mainly been applied in specialist applications in the military, aerospace and automotive industries. A number of companies are now producing superhydrophobic nanoscale coatings for smartphones and tablets. As well as providing a direct barrier to moisture, these coatings are also used for anti-icing, anti- corrosion, anti-fouling, and anti-microbial surfaces. Liquipel, HzO and P2i are the main players in this market and their products coat Sony’s Xperia Tablet Z and the Motorola RAZR range.
Drywired, www.drywired.com
The company’s 101X Liquid Nanocoating, technology is effective on all types of assembled devices and electronic components. The water and oil repellent coating is applied through an environmentally friendly low-pressure vacuum plasma process depositing a nanoscale layer of water and oil protection. DryWired’s protective nanocoating can be applied at any point during the manufacturing process of a consumer electronic device and will not disturb a circuit board’s functionality. The company has partnered with XPAL Power to coat their SpareOne Plus Emergency Phone (www.spareone.com) with DryWired’s technology in order to make the AA battery operated wireless devices IPX7 waterproof and corrosion resistant. They are also coating PowerSkin’s Wet Rated Series (www.power-skin.com).
Figure 1: PowerSkin protected by DryWired’s 101X Liquid Nanocoating submerged in water (DryWired).
HzO, Inc., www.hzo.com
The company produces WaterBlockTM technology for consumer and industrial electronic assemblies. The company deposits its nanocoating formulation using proprietary vacuum application methods that they have scaled-up. The coating has excellent waterproof and anti-corrosion properties. The company has a partnership with Flextronics to apply their thin film protective technology for any kind of electronics assembly, device or component.
Figure 2: IPhone coated in WaterBlock submerged in watertank.
Integrated Surface Technologies, Inc., www.insurftech.com
The company produces RepellixTM, a ceramic nanocomposite coating for Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs). The coatings are used to watersafe electronic devices.
Figure 3: Water droplet on a printed circuit board that had been coated in Integrated Surface Technologies’ RPX-540 system with the Repellix super-hydrophobic nanocomposite coating.
Liquipel, LLC, www.liquidpel.com
The company uses proprietary techniques to produce super-hydrophobic and corrosion resistant Watersafe™ nanocoatings for smartphones and headphones, tablets and other mobile electronics.
Lotus Leaf Coatings, www.lotusleafcoatings.com
The company manufactures and distributes proprietary superhydrophilic and superhydrophobic coatings. The superhydrophobic coating, HydroFoe™ has been applied to consumer electronics applications.
P2i Ltd, www.p2ilabs.com
The company’s nanocoating technology has been applied to the Motorola Droid Razr. Siemens is also a client. The company is planning to launch “Dunkable” or waterproof technology for smartphones and tablets in the next few months. They are seeking to raise $17 million to develop this product.
Figure 4: P2i’s water repelling coating (P2i)
Europlasma, www.europlasma.be
The company designs, builds and sells turnkey vacuum plasma treatment equipment. The company produces hydrophobic and oleophobic Nanofics coatings. During the last two years there has been an increase in demand for the Nanofics® systems to waterproof electronic devices. As a result the company’s turnover has more than tripled from 3 to 10 million Euros annually. The systems are typically integrated in the manufacturing lines of electronic devices such as speakers, headsets or smartphones.
