Superhydrophobicity in perfection: the outstanding properties of the lotus leaf

• Hans J. Ensikat,
• Petra Ditsche-Kuru,
• Christoph Neinhuis and
• Wilhelm Barthlott

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 152–161, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.19

• structure consisting of papillae with a dense coating of agglomerated wax tubules, which is the basis for the famous superhydrophobicity (Figure 1). However, a hierarchical surface structure which induces strong water repellency and contact angles above 150° is not a special feature of lotus leaves. It has

• regenerate damaged or lost waxes. Conclusion It is true that lotus exhibits outstanding water repellency on the upper side of its leaves. The basis of this behaviour is the hierarchical surface structure. In comparison to other species with a hierarchical surface structure composed of papillae and wax

• (SEM) image of the upper leaf side prepared by ‘glycerol substitution’ shows the hierarchical surface structure consisting of papillae, wax clusters and wax tubules. (c) Wax tubules on the upper leaf side. (d) Upper leaf side after critical-point (CP) drying. The wax tubules are dissolved, thus the

Schottky junction/ohmic contact behavior of a nanoporous TiO₂ thin film photoanode in contact with redox electrolyte solutions

• Masao Kaneko,
• Hirohito Ueno and
• Junichi Nemoto

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 127–134, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.15

• surface structure by ligand exchange of the Fe2+/3+ center between CN− and Ti–O−. When both the methanol and the [Fe(CN)6]4− were present in the aqueous phase, the behavior was interesting. In the dark, the CV also showed clear reversible redox waves for the [Fe(CN)6]4−/3− couple (Figure 7) at 0.26 V vs

Biomimetics inspired surfaces for drag reduction and oleophobicity/philicity

• Bharat Bhushan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 66–84, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.9

• 5°, respectively. As shown in Figure 11 and Table 3, it is observed that both surfaces are oleophilic in solid–water–oil interface. To study the surface structure of an aquatic animal, experiments with water and oil droplets on the shark skin replica were performed in a three phase interface [20

Defects in oxide surfaces studied by atomic force and scanning tunneling microscopy

• Thomas König,
• Georg H. Simon,
• Lars Heinke,
• Leonid Lichtenstein and
• Markus Heyde

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 1–14, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.1

• height that is 10 pm lower than the average height of corresponding terrace sites (see Figure 11b). Knowing the surface structure with highest accuracy, it is still very desirable to determine aspects of electronic structures to gain further insight. In Figure 12, the effective contact potential is

• defect-free MgO. The NC-AFM investigation on aluminum oxide on NiAl(110) unveils the surface structure of the domain and at the APDBs with atomic resolution. Apart from the determined topography, F2+-like centers, which have been predicted by DFT calculations, were experimentally verified for the APDBs

The description of friction of silicon MEMS with surface roughness: virtues and limitations of a stochastic Prandtl–Tomlinson model and the simulation of vibration-induced friction reduction

• W. Merlijn van Spengen,
• Viviane Turq and
• Joost W. M. Frenken

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2010, 1, 163–171, doi:10.3762/bjnano.1.20

• micronscale. This surface structure is formed by the 2-step RIE (Reactive Ion Etching) process used for etching the structures from an initially continuous polycrystalline silicon film. These surface features are consistently there, from die to die, and from run to run, although they are, of course, also

A collisional model for AFM manipulation of rigid nanoparticles

• Enrico Gnecco

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2010, 1, 158–162, doi:10.3762/bjnano.1.19

• which is determined by several factors such as the scan pattern, the surface structure and the geometry of both tip and particle. Predicting the direction of motion of nanoparticles is very important, especially if it is desired to manipulate several particles at the same time. Here, we show that this

Sensing surface PEGylation with microcantilevers

• Natalija Backmann,
• Natascha Kappeler,
• Thomas Braun,
• François Huber,
• Hans-Peter Lang,
• Christoph Gerber and
• Roderick Y. H. Lim

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2010, 1, 3–13, doi:10.3762/bjnano.1.2

• surface structure (Figure 6). In contrast, the Au surface topography does not change regardless of the scanning force used in 20% 2-propanol (poor solvent). This is due to the collapsed conformation of tethered PEG chains that offers minimal resistance against the AFM tip. The influence of solvent quality