Abstract
Since ancient times humans observed animal and plants features and tried to adapt them according to their own needs. Biomimetics represents the foundation of many inventions from various fields: From transportation devices (helicopter, airplane, submarine) and flying techniques, to sports’ wear industry (swimming suits, scuba diving gear, Velcro closure system), bullet proof vests made from Kevlar etc. It is true that nature provides numerous noteworthy models (shark skin, spider web, lotus leaves), referring both to the plant and animal kingdom. This review paper summarizes a few of “nature’s interventions” in human evolution, regarding understanding of surface wettability and development of innovative special surfaces. Empirical models are described in order to reveal the science behind special wettable surfaces (superhydrophobic /superhydrophilic). Materials and methods used in order to artificially obtain special wettable surfaces are described in correlation with plants’ and animals’ unique features. Emphasis is placed on joining superhydrophobic and superhydrophilic surfaces, with important applications in cell culturing, microorganism isolation/separation and molecule screening techniques. Bio-inspired wettability is presented as a constitutive part of traditional devices/systems, intended to improve their characteristics and extend performances.
Highlights
Over the last decades, surface and interfacial phenomena gained interest among researchers, especially through applications which ease medical or industrial procedures, giving the latter the attribute of being “environmental friendly”
Novel methods (2018) to produce superhydrophobic superoleophobic-covered silk textiles are reported by Aslanidou et al Alkoxy silanes, organic fluoropolymers, silane quaternary ammonium salt and silica nanoparticles are included in an aqueous solution which is sprayed onto silk
Unlike superhydrophobic surfaces, whose cleaning properties rely on the Lotus effect i.e., the dust is collected through water drops rolling off the leaf function, superamphiphobic surfaces can be kept clean by droplets, which during the rolling process, adhere to the surface and remove dirt particles
Summary
Surface and interfacial phenomena gained interest among researchers, especially through applications which ease medical or industrial procedures, giving the latter the attribute of being “environmental friendly”. The present paper focuses on the progress made in understanding and discovering new superficial properties of certain surfaces. The journey into the micronical size world begins with a short introduction into basic surface chemistry elements, in relation with the chemical structure of solids. Understanding surface phenomena makes it easier to unravel some yet unexplained superficial behavior and represents the starting point in developing useful applications for human kind. Fast development in wettable surface engineering led to the discovery of novel applications in medical fields (biomolecule monitoring, cancer cell isolation), transportation, cleaning and other industries
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