A collaboration at a major Chinese university has introduced a revolutionary toilet surface designed to stay exceptionally slick, even as its coating erodes through use. This development, reported by New Scientist, highlights a material that maintains slipperiness under real-world wear.
There are several slippery toilet surfaces available today, including those with Teflon-based coatings. Yet many of these coatings lose their slickness over time. As a result, the bowl can become harder to clean and, in some cases, households might replace the toilet sooner than expected. This new approach aims to address those durability concerns by combining a resilient coating with a robust base material.
The researchers created a scaled-down 3-D model of the toilet, approximately ten times smaller than a full-size fixture. The model was built from a blend of plastic and hydrophobic sand grains, chosen for both mechanical stability and water-repelling properties. A layer of silicone oil was then applied to the surface and integrated into the internal structure, providing a sustained slippery texture that resists wear.
To evaluate performance, the coating was exposed to a range of common substances encountered in a bathroom setting, including water, milk, yogurt, honey, and synthetic fecal matter. Across these tests, the surface remained non-sticky and easy to clean, demonstrating slip under diverse contaminants. Remarkably, the coating retained its slickness after more than a thousand cleaning cycles with sandpaper, suggesting a level of durability not typically seen in conventional coatings.
Proponents of the technology say its durability could reduce the amount of water needed for flushing and cleaning, contributing to lower household water consumption and associated utilities costs. If adopted at scale, the coating could also lower maintenance demands by reducing the frequency of deep cleaning and part replacements.
These advances build on ongoing efforts in material science to develop hydrophobic and oleophobic surfaces that combine chemical repellence with mechanical robustness. While the new design shows promise, experts caution that real-world performance may vary with manufacturing processes, long-term environmental exposure, and user habits. Practical deployment will require careful evaluation of production costs, compatibility with existing toilet systems, and potential regulatory considerations.
In related progress, researchers in other regions have explored metal 3-D printing and other additive manufacturing techniques to produce durable, functional bathroom components. The field as a whole is moving toward coatings that resist contamination while minimizing maintenance, driven by demand for cleaner, more water-efficient facilities. Although this particular study focuses on a laboratory-scale model, its principles could inform future commercial products across homes, public restrooms, and hospitality venues. The work is cited here with attribution to the original researchers and the reporting outlet where it was featured (New Scientist).