A research team at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) developed a coating for steam condensers used in fossil fuel steam-cycle generation. 
 
Stated in the Nature Communications journal, this coating is made with fluorinated diamond-like carbon (F-DLC) and could boost overall progress efficiency b 2%. Also, according to UIUC’s Grainger College of Engineering release, adding this to the steam cycle for fossil fuel power generation could help achieve 460 million fewer tons of carbon dioxide released, and up to 2 trillion tons of water used could be saved in the process. 
 
In the report, researchers explain how the F-DLC coating can improve heat transfer since the material is hydrophobic. Unlike many clean metals and their oxides, water does not forma thin film that coats the surface, rather the water forms on the F-DLC surface. This puts the steam into direct contact with the condenser and allows the heat to be directly transferred. With this heat transfer properties are improved by a factor of 20, with an overall process boost of 2%.
 
“The reality is that fossil fuels aren’t going away for at least 100 years. A lot of CO2 is going to be emitted before we get to a place where we can lean on renewables,” said professor and project lead Nenad Miljkovic. “If our F-DLC coating were adopted globally, it would noticeably curtain carbon emissions and water usage for the existing power infrastructure.”
 
Coated metals reportedly maintained hydrophobic properties after being exposed to steam condenser conditions for 1,095 days which is the longest test reported in the literature. Researchers also found that coated metals maintained their hydrophobic properties after an abrasion test of 5,000 scratches. 
 
“It’s remarkable that we can achieve this with F-DLC, something that just uses carbon, fluorene and a little bit of silicon. And it can coat pretty much any common metal, including copper, bronze, aluminum and titanium,” said postdoctoral research associate and lead author Muhammad Hoque.
 
According to the release, the research team is now collaborating with UIUC’s Abbott Power Plant to further study performance under industrial conditions for six months. 
 
“If all goes well, we hope to show everyone that this is an effective solution that is economically viable,” Miljkovic added. “We want our solution to be adopted, because, although the development of renewable energy should absolutely be a priority, it’s still very worthwhile to continue improving what we have now.