They figured out that water gets heated faster because bubbles form on the bottom, so they created a heater that keeps the bubble layer from forming.
Physicists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, along with colleagues from other universities, have created a heating element with a special surface structure that accelerates the heating of water. This is reported in the journal Advanced Materials.
Rapid boiling of water is hindered by bubbles formed at the bottom of the pot in which the water is boiled. If they are close to each other, they can create a dense gas layer. To combat this, a new heater was created.
At the bottom of the cookware there is an array of hollows about 10 micrometers apart, located 2 mm apart and arranged in peculiar columns. This structure creates a continuous flow of liquid that carries the heat upward. The bubbles then do not combine with each other and do not interfere with heating.
The heat transfer coefficient of the heater with this structure is four times higher, and one and a half times higher critical heat flow.