LiquiGlide’s Story
LiquiGlide’s technology was invented by Prof. Kripa Varanasi and Dave Smith at MIT. When Kripa joined MIT faculty in 2009, his vision was to fundamentally manipulate interfaces to dramatically enhance performance across various industries, including energy, water, agriculture, transportation, and medicine. Dave was one of the first students to join Kripa’s lab, and he embraced the vision. Together, Dave and Kripa invented and developed the scientific framework for stable liquid-impregnated surfaces, which became the foundation for LiquiGlide. In addition to this deep scientific endeavor to fundamentally change the paradigm at liquid-solid interfaces, they developed manufacturing approaches to commercialize the technology. After winning the Audience-Choice Award in the MIT $100K competition, they released videos of complete dispensing of various consumer products such as ketchup and other condiments from bottles enhanced with their coatings. The videos went viral, attracting worldwide attention and interest. They co-founded LiquiGlide in 2012 with a vision to eliminate the no-slip boundary condition to minimize material, water, and energy waste and enable new and better products, processes, and technologies across industries.