Interfacial Effects of Superhydrophobic Plant Surfaces： A Review

• Published in: Journal of bionics engineering Vol. 11; no. 3; pp. 325 - 345
• Main Authors: Wang, Guiyuan, Guo, Zhiguang, Liu, Weimin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Singapore Elsevier Ltd 01.07.2014; Springer Singapore
• Subjects: Artificial Intelligence; Biochemical Engineering; Bioinformatics; Biomaterials; Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering; Biomedical Engineering/Biotechnology; Biomimetic materials; bionics; contact angle; Engineering; Free energy; Hydrophobicity; interfacial effects; Lotus; Petals; plant leaves; Plants (organisms); Strategy; superhydrophobicity; Topography; Tuning; 功能材料; 展望; 工业应用; 植物表面; 界面效应; 荷叶效应; 超疏水性表面; 防水性能; superhydrophobicity; interfacial effects; contact angle; bionics; plant leaves
• ISSN: 1672-6529; 2543-2141
• DOI: 10.1016/S1672-6529(14)60047-0

Nature is a huge gallery of art involving nearly perfect structures and properties over the millions of years of development. Many plants and animals show water-repellent properties with fine micro-structures, such as lotus leaf, water skipper and wings of butterfly. Inspired by these special surfaces, the artificial superhydrophobic surfaces have attracted wide attention in both basic research and industrial applications. The wetting properties of superhydrophobic surfaces in nature are affected by the chemical compositions and the surface topographies. So it is possible to realize the biomimetic superhydrophobic surfaces by tuning their surface roughness and surface free energy correspondingly. This review briefly introduces the physical-chemical basis of superhydrophobic plant surfaces in nature to explain how the superhydrophobicity of plant surfaces can be applied to different biomimetic functional materials with relevance to technological applications. Then, three classical effects of natural surfaces are classified: lotus effect, salvinia effect, and petal effect, and the promising strategies to fabricate biomimetic superhydrophobic materials are highlighted. Finally, the prospects and challenges of this area in the future are proposed.