3D-printed biomimetic water-repellant surfaces can be tiled to cover larger areas
3D-printed biomimetic water-repellant surfaces can be tiled to cover larger areas lead image
Scientists look to nature for inspiration in creating functional materials, with biological surface mimicry being a subfield where scientists design textures or topographies based on those found in biological materials. For instance, properties such as water repellency or low friction found in living organisms, often enabled by their surface textures, can serve as inspirations for designing materials in industrial applications. Maddox et al. 3D-printed and tested replicas of banana skin and daffodil petal surfaces to explore their surface properties for practical applications.
Using 3D printed surfaces based on models converted from highly detailed images of the surfaces, the authors found the fabricated banana skin and daffodil petal surfaces had significantly reduced friction and increased water repellency due to their textured surfaces.
“Although banana peels and daffodil petals have drastically different apparent textures, they showed similar amounts of significant reduction in the coefficient of friction or COF,” said author Min Zou. “This indicates that a more aggressive design approach based on these or other natural surfaces could lead to a bigger reduction in COF and improve machine efficiency.”
To further take advantage of the fabrication method, the researchers applied a tiling technique that allowed a small, representative area of the input surfaces to be repeated across a much larger printed area.
“Our general method can be used to study natural surfaces and identify features that contribute to desired engineering outcomes,” said Zou. “That knowledge can be used to reduce energy waste in machine parts, create more efficient self-cleaning surfaces or prevent waste-buildup on sensitive parts in dirty conditions.”
Source: “Fabrication and friction characteristics of arbitrary biosurfaces,” by Shelby R. Maddox, Xiaoxiao Han, Xiangbo Meng, and Min Zou, Biointerphases (2020). The article can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1116/6.0000633 .
This paper is part of the Biomimetics of Biointerfaces Collection, learn more here .
