New Polymer Coating Boosts Condensation Heat Transfer Up to 5.5-Fold
KAIST researchers have devised an ultrathin polymer coating that can raise condensation heat transfer by as much as 5.5 times compared with ordinary copper surfaces.
A joint team from KAIST’s Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering engineered an ultrathin polymer film that converts microscopic surface “defects” into beneficial droplet-nucleation points. By reducing the film thickness they generated three times more nucleation sites, and a subsequent thermal treatment lowered the force binding droplets to the surface, enabling early detachment.
Applied to copper condenser tubes, the coating achieved a peak condensation heat-transfer coefficient of approximately 88 kW·m⁻²·K⁻¹, delivering up to 5.5-fold higher heat transfer than conventional copper and more than 50 % improvement over typical hydrophobic coatings. The researchers argue that the approach can boost energy efficiency in industrial heat exchangers, enhance water collection in desalination systems, and provide faster cooling for electronic devices. The work was published in Nature Communications on July 16 and was supported by multiple Korean science and technology programs.
Why it matters
The coating could cut energy use and improve water production and electronics cooling by making condensation far more efficient.
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