Templated biomimetic multifunctional coatings

We report a bioinspired templating technique for fabricating multifunctional optical coatings that mimic both unique functionalities of antireflective moth eyes and superhydrophobic cicada wings. Subwavelength-structured fluoropolymer nipple arrays are created by a soft-lithography-like process. The...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied physics letters 2008-02, Vol.92 (5), p.051107-051107-3
Main Authors: Sun, Chih-Hung, Gonzalez, Adriel, Linn, Nicholas C., Jiang, Peng, Jiang, Bin
Format: Article
Language:English
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:We report a bioinspired templating technique for fabricating multifunctional optical coatings that mimic both unique functionalities of antireflective moth eyes and superhydrophobic cicada wings. Subwavelength-structured fluoropolymer nipple arrays are created by a soft-lithography-like process. The utilization of fluoropolymers simultaneously enhances the antireflective performance and the hydrophobicity of the replicated films. The specular reflectivity matches the optical simulation using a thin-film multilayer model. The dependence of the size and the crystalline ordering of the replicated nipples on the resulting antireflective properties have also been investigated by experiment and modeling. These biomimetic materials may find important technological application in self-cleaning antireflection coatings.
ISSN:0003-6951
1077-3118
DOI:10.1063/1.2841818