Fabrication of Biomimetic Water Strider Legs Covered with Setae

Abstract

Water striders have remarkable water-repellent legs that enable them to stand effortlessly and move quickly on water. Fluid physics indicates this feature is due to a surface-tension effect caused by the special hierarchical structure of the legs, which are covered with a large number of inclined setae with fine nanogrooves inducing water resistance. This inspires us to fabricate special water-repellent structure on functional surfaces through the cooperation between the surface treatment and the surface micro- and nanostructures, which may bring great advantages in a wide variety of applications. In this paper we present a procedure for fabricating biomimetic water strider legs covered with setae using Polycarbonate Track-Etched (PCTE) membranes as templates. By choosing appropriate membrane lengths, diameters, pitches and densities of the setae, the biomimetic legs can be fabricated conveniently and at a low cost. Furthermore we investigated the relationship between stiffness of the molding materials, high aspect ratio and density, which affect the fidelity of fabrication and self adhesion, to optimize the stability of setae. The knowledge we gained from this study will offer important insights into the biomimetic design and fabrication of water strider setae.