‘Electrified gold’ membranes help ski jacket stay dry
01/02/2018
Working in collaboration with Finnish research institute Empa, Norwegian ski brand KJUS and Swiss textile company Schoeller, Osmtoex has applied the principle of osmosis to HYDRO_BOT technology, accelerating it with 1.5 volts from a conventional battery.
A 20 micrometre polymer membrane is coated on both sides with a noble metal by means of plasma coating, using 0.2 grams of gold per ski jacket. Gold has proven to be significantly more durable than silver-coated electrodes, said Empa.
“Even without current, liquid passes through the membrane. However, as soon as an electrical voltage is applied, the pumping effect increases significantly,” said Dirk Hegemann from Empa’s Advanced Fibres lab.
The membrane can pump out about 10 litres of liquid per square metre per hour by electro-osmosis.
A prototype of the electro-osmotic jacket has been presented at ISPO in Munich this week (January 29 to 31).
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