Week-5 Post NanoTech.

This week in Nanotechnology, we had study the idea of hydrophobic materials. The idea that nature has provided for scientist to be inspired by. This in return has allowed Scientist to study the molecular structures to help them better understand why some materials are hydrophobic.

In recent years Scientist have discovered that the idea of hydrophobic qualities and how to incorporate them into the field of nanotechnology. Some inventions such as the Never Wet sprays coats a layer of hydrophobic chemical allows for an object to be waterproof or even dirt proof.

The image above is can show an example of these types of sprays. Just apply the spray and get wet.

So I thought to myself, about the application of hydrophobic sprays and how I can bring an addition that no one has thought of.  It made me realize that none of these hydrophobic sprays were geared towards human protection. Just clothes, windshield or maybe a phone.

My mother is a chef at her own restaurant in koreatown. She prepares food everyday and works pretty much every aspects in the kitchen. This means that she even cleans all the dishes herself. One day, my mother came home complaining about the pain she had in her hands. Her hands were peeled, hardened, and dried due to the excessive dish washing. Now for those who have not been a dishwasher, many might suggest that wearing a rubber glove will solve the problem but that is not the case (I was also a dishwasher once). The rubber glove does nothing to help prevent the hardening hands. It traps in heat and moisture and collect water as you reach into the kitchen sink for dishes. But what if nanotechnology can finally innovate something to help out my mother? I think this is quite possible.

The idea that I seek for is simple. This is why I believe it will be a great help to those who are in contact with water daily. Simply, developing a hand cream that is hydrophobic before washing the dishes can be of great help. But there is yet many problems that still need to be solved.

When washing dishes, the temperature of the water varies due to which stage you are washing your dishes. This means that the hydrophobic cream must not wear off which the varying temperature. This is crucial because there is no point in a cream that washes off while washing the dishes. Secondly, it is important to note that the durability has to be long enough for this cream to be effective. If the cream only lasts for 20 mins, it would be cause delay in a busy restaurant. Thirdly, the chemicals added onto the cream must also have non toxic ingredients composing the cream. This is obviously due to the fact that the cream will be applied to the human hands and also be traced in the plates customers will eat off of.

At the end of the day, I feel that this idea can be taken into consideration of those innovative designers out there in the world and make a change/ impact to those who are in pain from washing dishes.