Abrasion‐Resistant and Enhanced Super‐Slippery Flush Toilets Fabricated by a Selective Laser Sintering 3D Printing Technology

Abstract

Flush toilets waste a significant amount of water every day due to the unavoidable adhesions between human waste and the toilet surfaces. Super‐slippery surfaces can repel complex fluids and various viscoelastic solids, however, are easily broken by the mechanical abrasions. Herein, we report the fabrication of an abrasion‐resistant super‐slippery flush toilet (ARSFT) using a selective laser sintering 3D printing technology. Unlike traditional super‐slippery surfaces with limited thicknesses which can be easily worn away, the powder sintered strategy endows the ARSFT not only with a self‐supporting 3D complex shape but also with a porous structure that can accommodate considerable lubricants for an abrasion‐resistant super‐slippery property. As a result, the as‐prepared ARSFT remains clean after contacting with various liquids such as milk, yogurt, highly sticky honey and starch gel mixed congee, demonstrating excellent repellence to complex fluids. Besides liquids, the ARSFT exhibits a high resistance to the sticky synthetic feces. Notably, even after being abraded to 1000 cycles of abrasion using sandpaper, the ARSFT maintains its record‐breaking super‐slippery capability. The concept of the 3D printed object with a superior abrasion‐resistant slippery ability will improve the development of super‐slippery materials and further save water consumption in the human society.This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

A novel 3D printed type II silk fibroin/polycaprolactone mesh for the treatment of pelvic organ prolapse

“…10 Preparation methods such as freeze drying, gas forming, solvent casting–particle leaching and electrostatic spinning have been used for the preparation of porous scaffolds with collagen, alginate, silk fibroin, and poly(lactic acid-co-glycolic acid) stent materials. 11–13 However, these methods are unable to control the microstructure of scaffolds. The emergence of 3D manufacturing technology provides a potential method for the production of meshes with a controlled microstructure.…”