Mimicking the Flower Petals to Fabricate Self-Cleaning and Antireflective Polymer Surfaces

Mattaparthi, Srinadh and Sharma, Chandra Shekhar (2020) Mimicking the Flower Petals to Fabricate Self-Cleaning and Antireflective Polymer Surfaces. Bioinspired, Biomimetic and Nanobiomaterials, 9 (1). pp. 1-8. ISSN 2045-9858

Full text not available from this repository. (Request a copy)

Abstract

This work explores a facile way to fabricate superhydrophobic and antireflective polymer surfaces using Canna indica flower petals. A simple, inexpensive two-step soft-lithography technique is employed to replicate the Canna indica flower petal surface structures onto two different polymer surfaces such as polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) a hydrophobic polymer and resorcinol-formaldehyde (RF) xerogel a hydrophilic polymer. First, a negative replica was prepared in PDMS using the flower petal as a template. Second, the negative PDMS replica later used as a stamp to prepare positive replica in both PDMS and RF xerogel. These replicated structured surfaces greatly influenced the wettability properties. The contact angle of replicated PDMS surfaces increased to near superhydrophobic value of 145° (negative PDMS replica) and 144° (positive PDMS replica) compared to the plain surface possessing a contact angle of 101°. Interestingly, the contact angle of replicated RF surface significantly increased to 151° (superhydrophobic) compared to the planar RF surface which is a hydrophilic surface (68°). However, the replicated polymer surfaces exhibited not only excellent superhydrophobic properties but also antireflective properties. These multifunctional surfaces with superhydrophobicity as well as omnidirectional antireflective property may find a wide range of applications such as solar energy harvesters, optical displays, and marine applications.

[error in script]

IITH Creators:

IITH Creators	ORCiD
Sharma, Chandra Shekhar	https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3821-1471

Item Type:

Article

Additional Information:

The authors acknowledge Dr Anulekha Haridas from ARCI Hyderabad (presently at Rice University), who helped them in field-emission SEM characterization of their samples. The authors also acknowledge the Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad for financial support in the form of seed grant to carry out this work.

Uncontrolled Keywords:

Anti reflection; Antireflective properties; Hydrophilic polymers; Hydrophobic polymers; Polydimethylsiloxane PDMS; Self cleaning; Soft lithography; Structured surfaces

Subjects:

Chemical Engineering

Divisions:

Department of Chemical Engineering

Depositing User:

Team Library

Date Deposited:

16 Jul 2019 10:13

Last Modified:

11 Nov 2022 10:13

URI:

http://raiithold.iith.ac.in/id/eprint/5738