Abstract
The term ‘biomimetic’ might be applied to any material or process that in some way reproduces, mimics, or is otherwise inspired by nature. Also variously termed bionic, bioinspired, biological design, or even green design, the idea of adapting or taking inspiration from a natural solution to solve a modern engineering problem has been of scientific interest since it was first proposed in the 1960s. Since then, the concept that natural materials and nature can provide inspiration for incredible breakthroughs and developments in terms of new technologies and entirely new approaches to solving technological problems has become widely accepted. This is very much evident in the fields of materials science, surface science, and coatings. In this review, we survey recent developments (primarily those within the last decade) in biomimetic approaches to antifouling, self-cleaning, or anti-biofilm technologies. We find that this field continues to mature, and emerging novel, biomimetic technologies are present at multiple stages in the development pipeline, with some becoming commercially available. However, we also note that the rate of commercialization of these technologies appears slow compared to the significant research output within the field.
Highlights
Biomimetics, a term attributed to Otto Schmidt, can be thought of as the study of structure and function in natural systems as inspiration for technological design and engineering [1].Vincent provides an excellent overview of the development of the field, including the semantics and history of the term [2]
As pointed out succinctly by Vincent, it is not sufficient to try and transfer lessons from nature into existing technology, but rather biomimetics hold the promise of more—a new way of looking at the development of technologies, where challenges are approached with an understanding taken from the natural world [2]
Antifouling or self-cleaning surfaces are a sub-set of these studies (Figure 1), and the relationship are well-known, such as the secondary metabolites of the red seaweed Delisea pulchra [21]—that between searching for inspiration from natural adhesives on one hand, and naturally anti-adhesive control unwanted epibionts
Summary
Biomimetics, a term attributed to Otto Schmidt, can be thought of as the study of structure and function in natural systems as inspiration for (sustainable) technological design and engineering [1]. As pointed out by Bushan, multifunctionality in natural materials is quite interest in seeking out new approaches to preventing, reducing, or mitigating the effects of biofouling common, and properties such as superhydrophobicity, self-cleaning, drag reduction, thermal insulation, or biofilm development, in the marine environment, or in membrane technology for high adhesion strengths or even reversible aerodynamic hydrodynamic lift, incredible water separation, for example [19]. Antifouling or self-cleaning surfaces are a sub-set of these studies (Figure 1), and the relationship are well-known, such as the secondary metabolites of the red seaweed Delisea pulchra [21]—that between searching for inspiration from natural adhesives on one hand, and naturally anti-adhesive control unwanted epibionts (colonising organisms, or an organism living on another organism).
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