I think it would be cool to develop hydrophobic rubber for (bike)tyres. It would prevent water from sticking to the tyre. Now we get all wet and dirty when biking on wet roads because the water stick to the tyres when rolling. A hydrophobic rubber or coating would hopefully prevent that.
I have no background in chemistry and material science, so I don’t know if it is possible. But if it is feasible, it would not only be a cool hack, but also a useful product.
EQUIPMENT/SKILLS/PEOPLE NEEDED:
people with background in chemistry, material science, or nano technology?
LINKS TO MORE INFORMATION
HACKERS:
Arne Jenssen
Please add constructive feedback, suggestions, offers of equipment or skills, and gestures of wild enthusiasm as replies below. Thanks!
From a chemical view bike tires are already hydrophobic, so something like the lotus effect is probably the way to go with this idea. The only problem I see with this is, that such effects are dependent on the surface structure of the material and that will not be very stable on a bike tire that is used …
I’ve also found a patent paper on a similar idea and in the introduction (background, 2nd page) they mention that hydrophilic surfaces are actually better suited to prevent the formation of water drops on a surface, because the they allow the water to spread evenly.