Presenters Name: Jie Ding
Employment Title: Senior Research Scientist
Company: Defence Science and Technology Group
Biography: Dr Jie Ding is a senior research scientist at the Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG) within the Australian Department of Defence and also holds an honorary professorship at the University of Wollongong. She received her PhD in Electrochemistry from the University of Wollongong in 2002 and subsequently worked as a research fellow at both the University of Wollongong and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States.
In 2013 and 2015, she invented shear thickening fluid and magnetorheological fluid batteries, innovations that significantly improved battery safety. Her current research focuses on advanced materials for defence applications, with particular emphasis on multifunctional superhydrophobic surfaces and next‑generation energy storage technologies.
Across nearly four decades, spanning government, academia, and industry, Jie has led and delivered multidisciplinary research programs with world‑class outcomes. Her work has been published in leading international journals, including Science, Advanced Materials, Angewandte Chemie, Advanced Science, and Small. She has accumulated more than 6,000 citations and holds an h‑index of 48.
Presentation Title: Bio‑Inspired Underwater Superhydrophobic Coatings for Maritime Applications
Presentation Abstract: Underwater superhydrophobic (SH) coatings operate by maintaining a thin, trapped air layer, known as the plastron when submerged. This air-water interface replaces direct water–solid contact, substantially reducing hydrodynamic drag while also providing anti-fouling and corrosion resistance. SH surfaces therefore hold strong potential across diverse underwater applications, including marine infrastructure, autonomous underwater vehicles, pipelines, robotics, and sensor systems.
However, large‑scale commercial adoption remains limited by two persistent challenges: material durability and long‑term plastron stability under continuous submersion. External factors such as wave action, hydrostatic pressure, shear forces, and particulate contamination can gradually degrade the air layer, compromising overall performance. Consequently, a key goal in materials development is to engineer SH materials that combine long‑lasting superhydrophobicity with robust mechanical resilience suitable for real underwater environments.
Inspired by the protective microarchitecture of nasturtium leaves and the hydrodynamically efficient surface of sharkskin, we have developed an armoured‑structure SHS that incorporates riblet‑like microtextures to enhance durability and reduce drag. This bio-inspired design produced two unprecedented features: (i) a regenerative volumetric SH layer with water contact angle (WCA) of 161°, where nanoparticles were anchored into the thickness of the coating to a certain depth rather than merely on the surface, and (ii) a riblet-based armoured framework that physically shielded nanoscale features from abrasion and hydrodynamic erosion, sustaining hydrophobicity. As a result, the coating exhibited exceptional durability, retaining SH properties after 30 days of saltwater immersion, outdoor exposure, or a 25 minutes water jet test. The surface further achieved a 34 % drag reduction, outperforming conventional SH coatings. This environmentally friendly, solvent free, single step, and scalable approach overcomes long standing durability limitations of SH sharkskin surfaces and provides a practical platform for large-scale maritime, industrial, and underwater applications
