Posted on 08/12/2025 5:29:01 AM PDT by Red Badger
Scientists developed a safer non-stick surface using a unique “nanoscale fletching” design that repels grease like Teflon, without the toxic baggage. Credit: Shutterstock
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Engineers have crafted a new non-stick coating that could finally give Teflon some competition—without the dangerous “forever chemicals” that have raised health alarms.
By bonding silicone-based bristles with the tiniest PFAS molecule possible, the team created a surface that resists both water and grease as effectively as traditional coatings.
Safer Non-Stick Alternative Emerges
Researchers at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering have created a new type of material that could provide a safer option for the non-stick coatings widely used in cookware and other everyday products.
This innovation repels both water and grease as effectively as many standard non-stick surfaces, but contains much smaller amounts of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). PFAS are a group of chemicals linked to environmental and health concerns.
“The research community has been trying to develop safer alternatives to PFAS for a long time,” says Professor Kevin Golovin (MIE), who heads the Durable Repellent Engineered Advanced Materials (DREAM) Laboratory at U of T Engineering.
“The challenge is that while it’s easy to create a substance that will repel water, it’s hard to make one that will also repel oil and grease to the same degree. Scientists had hit an upper limit to the performance of these alternative materials.”
The Science Behind Teflon and PFAS
First introduced in the late 1930s, Teflon (polytetrafluoroethylene or PTFE) became famous for its ability to keep water, oil, and grease from sticking. Teflon is part of the larger PFAS family.
PFAS molecules are made of carbon atoms bonded to multiple fluorine atoms. These carbon-fluorine bonds are extremely stable, which is what gives PFAS their strong non-stick properties.
That same chemical stability also makes PFAS resistant to natural breakdown processes. This persistence in the environment has earned them the nickname “forever chemicals.”
Health Concerns and Ubiquity of PFAS
In addition to their persistence, PFAS are known to accumulate in biological tissues, and their concentrations can become amplified as they travel up the food chain.
Various studies have linked exposure to high levels of PFAS to certain types of cancer, birth defects, and other health problems, with the longer chain PFAS generally considered more harmful than the shorter ones.
Despite the risks, the lack of alternatives means that PFAS remain ubiquitous in consumer products: they are widely used not only in cookware, but also in rain-resistant fabrics, food packaging, and even in makeup.
Searching for a Safer Substitute “The material we’ve been working with as an alternative to PFAS is called polydimethylsiloxane or PDMS,” says Golovin.
“PDMS is often sold under the name silicone, and depending on how it’s formulated, it can be very biocompatible — in fact it’s often used in devices that are meant to be implanted into the body. But until now, we couldn’t get PDMS to perform quite as well as PFAS.”
To overcome this problem, MIE PhD student Samuel Au developed a new chemistry technique that the team is calling nanoscale fletching. The technique is described in a paper published in Nature Communications.
Mimicking Feathered Arrows at the Nanoscale
“Unlike typical silicone, we bond short chains of PDMS to a base material — you can think of them like bristles on a brush,” says Au.
“To improve their ability to repel oil, we have now added in the shortest possible PFAS molecule, consisting of a single carbon with three fluorines on it. We were able to bond about seven of those to the end of each PDMS bristle.
“If you were able to shrink down to the nanometre scale, it would look a bit like the feathers that you see around the back end of an arrow, where it notches to the bow. That’s called fletching, so this is nanoscale fletching.”
Matching PFAS Performance with Minimal Risk
Au and the team coated their new material on a piece of fabric, then placed drops of various oils on it to see how well it could repel them. On a scale developed by the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists, the new coating achieved a grade of 6, placing it on par with many standard PFAS-based coatings.
“While we did use a PFAS molecule in this process, it is the shortest possible one and therefore does not bioaccumulate,” says Golovin.
“What we’ve seen in the literature, and even in the regulations, is that it’s the longest-chain PFAS that are getting banned first, with the shorter ones considered much less harmful. Our hybrid material provides the same performance as what had been achieved with long-chain PFAS, but with greatly reduced risk.”
Toward a PFAS-Free Future
Golovin says that the team is open to collaborating with manufacturers of non-stick coatings who might wish to scale up and commercialize the process. In the meantime, they will continue working on even more alternatives.
“The holy grail of this field would be a substance that outperforms Teflon, but with no PFAS at all,” says Golovin.
“We’re not quite there yet, but this is an important step in the right direction.”
Reference:
“Nanoscale fletching of liquid-like polydimethylsiloxane with single perfluorocarbons enables sustainable oil-repellency”
by Samuel Au, Jeremy R. Gauthier, Boran Kumral, Tobin Filleter, Scott Mabury and Kevin Golovin, 23 July 2025, Nature Communications.
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-62119-9
Apparently so..................
I have and love an extensive collection of cast iron but seldom use it in my electric oven except to set the seasoning. I find my “tin” pans with racks are better suited to the task.
Heat is the key. Clean out as much loose stuff as possible, pour some water into the pan, heat it up, scrub it with some big flakey salt ( kosher works fine) and a metal brush or a spatula. Real easy. Re-heating loosens everything up.
I know ... 🤬
Good post, thanks.
Oh, yeah. I’ve done that, yet the scrubbing continues. Maybe I should just hide them from him.
“There are no Teflon harms. Teflon is inert”
Not even close to true. Teflon is PTFE and is a known killer. Small animals in the house are susceptible to death by PTFE when it is heated above 500 degrees F. If it can kill animals, it can kill you.
I am still using Mom’s old cast iron she bought in 1945.
My parents had a cheap aluminum frying pan with a “silverstone” mineral coating. 100% non stick. Scratch resistant. Lasts forever.
I don’t know why these “silverstone” pans are so expensive now. Many of them are not even the real thing.
Sweet !!!
I used to have My Great-Grandmother’s “Drip-Drop” CI Roaster (Dutch Oven minus the lip on the top to hold coals) and a 12” CI pann.
They were stolen while in storage!😡🤬😤
Scumbags ! I hope they drop them on their feet and break every bone in their feet...
All my cooking pans are totally stainless steel with copper bottoms. In spite of 50 plus years of use they still look new. No amount of anything getting “stuck on” has been something that cleaning could not take care of.
Cast iron in this house.
HERESY!!!! To the stake with the heretic!!!
"Forever chemicals" are the Latest Thing to Fear ... if you're not running around in circles screaming and shouting with your hair on fire about them, you're not "one of us".
You are not Of The Body:
You must be absorbed.
If I have to use some asinine wood or plastic utensils so as not to intimidate the coating, count me out. Wood is clumsy and absorbs stuff. Plastic, well, why should I believe anything about its health benefits?
This is just another fad, and a way to get more $$.
Cook, soak and you can easily peel and brush off all the food. Then toss in the dishwasher.
Definitely cast iron or steel this the way to go. I cook most everything on a steel gas griddle when at our lake cabin. I find I use my stove and microwave far less and have been using an air fryer and automatic pressure cooker more.
The testing of this cookware will have to be brutal, like the conditions Teflon failed under. High heat and cold, boiling acids, mechanical damage, especially from spatulas and knife cuts, harsh cleaning chemicals, the list goes on and on.
Yep but it makes the food look funky like scrambled eggs with black crap.
Thrift shopping is the only way to go. Aside from socks, shoes and underwear, that’s my go-to for anything I need...and usually also things that I don’t, LOL!
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