Coatings may not sound exciting but nanotechnology is have a big impact in that area. P2i, a UK-based company that’s been mentioned here before, will be bringing a nanocoating for LED lighting and smartphones to IFA 2011, the largest consumer trade show for electronics and home appliances in the world. From the August 31, 2011 news item on Nanowerk,

P2i brings its award-winning liquid repellent nano-coating technology, Aridion™, to IFA for the first time in 2011. Show visitors will be able to witness the ‘magic’ of Aridion™ in action at P2i’s booth – water simply forms beads and rolls off protected items, leaving no trace.

Aridion™ technology creates a complete nanoscopic protective coating for consumer electronics devices such as smartphones and MP3 players. By providing superior liquid repellency Aridion™ effectively fights corrosion, thus substantially reducing warranty failure and repair costs.

While the news item mentions smartphones, the company’s big announcement seems to be focused on LED lighting,

As IFA opens, P2i also announces it has entered into an exclusive worldwide license agreement to protect LED lighting solutions with SavWatt USA, Inc. Aridion™ technology will transform the reliability of the lights through reduced failure and repair rates.

For anyone who’d like more details about the Aridion™ coating,

Aridion™ is applied using a special pulsed ionized gas (plasma), which is created within a vacuum chamber, to attach a nanoscopic polymer layer, one thousand times thinner than a human hair – to the lighting system. This dramatically lowers the product’s surface energy, so that when liquids or moisture come into contact with it, they form beads and simply roll off.

Plus, because Aridion™ coats every aspect of a finished product at the nanoscopic level, it protects much more thoroughly than alternative approaches where individual components are treated prior to assembly. The result is a truly durable liquid repellent coating that does not affect the working components of electronic devices, maintaining the look, feel and functionality of the product.

My previous mentions of  P2i, a company, which supplies nanocoatings for Nike and to the military amongst other customers, are in a November 17, 2009 posting, a January 5, 2010 posting, and an April 20, 2010 posting. (You will need to scroll through the postings.)