Biomimetics on the micro- and nanoscale – The 25th anniversary of the lotus effect

• Matthias Mail,
• Kerstin Koch,
• Thomas Speck,
• William M. Megill and
• Stanislav N. Gorb

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 850–856, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.69

• Mail, Kerstin Koch, Thomas Speck, William M. Megill and Stanislav N. Gorb Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Kleve, Freiburg, and Kiel, July 2023 Biological archetype and eponym of the lotus effect: The sacred lotus (Nelumbo nucifera). a) Photo of a lotus plant. b) Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image of

Design of a biomimetic, small-scale artificial leaf surface for the study of environmental interactions

• Miriam Anna Huth,
• Axel Huth,
• Lukas Schreiber and
• Kerstin Koch

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 944–957, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.83

• surface, the leaf of the lotus plant (Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn., Nelumbonaceae). Biomimetic surfaces The wettability properties of plant surfaces have often been a source of inspiration for the development of biomimetic materials. For example, biomimetic surfaces offer the possibility to study interfacial

Self-assembly of Eucalyptus gunnii wax tubules and pure ß-diketone on HOPG and glass

• Miriam Anna Huth,
• Axel Huth and
• Kerstin Koch

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 939–949, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.70

• multifunctional wax coating on their surfaces made of branched ß-diketone tubules. ß-diketone tubules have a different size, shape, and chemical composition than the well-described nonacosanol tubules of the superhydrophobic leaves of lotus (Nelumbo nucifera). Until now the formation process of ß-diketone tubules

Kinetics of solvent supported tubule formation of Lotus (Nelumbo nucifera) wax on highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) investigated by atomic force microscopy

• Sujit Kumar Dora,
• Kerstin Koch,
• Wilhelm Barthlott and
• Klaus Wandelt

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 468–481, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.45

• ; crystallization; epicuticular wax; Lotus; Nelumbo nucifera; nonacosanol tubules; self-assembly; superhydrophobic; Introduction The plant cuticle, a cutin matrix embedded and covered by waxes provides a multitasking interface between plant and environment [1]. These waxes are either reside within the cutin layer

• . Experimental The experiments are performed in a similar manner as described in literature [27]. The nonacosan-10-ol wax obtained by extraction of lotus (Nelumbo nucifera) leaves with chloroform was obtained from the Nees Institute for Biodiversity of Plants of the Bonn University [18]. This wax was dissolved

• ideas to other substrates, e.g. mica, glassy carbon and glass, having similar or different properties than HOPG in order to find out the effect of these substrates and how the above mentioned factors influence the tubule growth on these substrates. Consecutive AFM images of Lotus (Nelumbo nucifera) wax

Surfactant-induced enhancement of droplet adhesion in superhydrophobic soybean (Glycine max L.) leaves

• Oliver Hagedorn,
• Ingo Fleute-Schlachter,
• Hans Georg Mainx,
• Viktoria Zeisler-Diehl and
• Kerstin Koch

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2345–2356, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.234

• (Nelumbo nucifera), the leaf surface of Glycine max L. does not show self-cleaning properties, which are generally indicated by low tilting angle or low contact angle hysteresis. Cryo-SEM investigations showed that droplets of a water–glycerol mixture are in the Cassie–Baxter wetting regime with only

Biological and biomimetic materials and surfaces

• Stanislav Gorb and
• Thomas Speck

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 403–407, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.42

• (Nelumbo nucifera) and Tropaeolum (Tropaeolum majus). Interestingly, with the rolling off of water droplets, dirt particles as well as fungus spores and bacteria are also very efficiently removed from the leaf surfaces as they are more tightly attached to the water droplet than to the leaf surface. The

Innovations from the “ivory tower”: Wilhelm Barthlott and the paradigm shift in surface science

• Christoph Neinhuis

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 394–402, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.41

• an environment with a much more biased research focus. In this particular example, one result of the research was the answer to the question of the systematic affinities of sacred lotus (Nelumbo nucifera). For the longest time scientist considered water lilies (Nymphaea) to be the closest relatives

The cleaner, the greener? Product sustainability assessment of the biomimetic façade paint Lotusan^® in comparison to the conventional façade paint Jumbosil^®

• Florian Antony,
• Rainer Grießhammer,
• Thomas Speck and
• Olga Speck

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 2100–2115, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.200

• paint with self-cleaning properties. Results and Discussion Test of the criterion: Biomimetic product yes or no As suggested by Antony et al. [16], clarifying whether the superhydrophobic properties of double-structured rough plant surfaces like the one of the sacred lotus (Nelumbo nucifera) have been

Measuring air layer volumes retained by submerged floating-ferns Salvinia and biomimetic superhydrophobic surfaces

• Matthias J. Mayser,
• Holger F. Bohn,
• Meike Reker and
• Wilhelm Barthlott

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 812–821, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.93

• surfaces, e.g., the leaves of Lotus (Nelumbo nucifera) provide very high contact angles and low hysteresis [1], the air layers that are held between the surface structures persist only for short periods of time [22]. However, for some biological surfaces like the elytra of the back swimmer Notonecta or the

Impact of cell shape in hierarchically structured plant surfaces on the attachment of male Colorado potato beetles (Leptinotarsa decemlineata)

• Bettina Prüm,
• Robin Seidel,
• Holger Florian Bohn and
• Thomas Speck

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 57–64, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.7

• with regard to their function. Leaves of Nelumbo nucifera (lotus) and Colocasia esculenta for example show papillate epidermal cells covered with epicuticular wax crystals [9], while petals of Viola tricolor have papillate epidermal cells covered with cuticular folds [10]. All three surfaces have been

Recrystallization of tubules from natural lotus (Nelumbo nucifera) wax on a Au(111) surface

• Sujit Kumar Dora and
• Klaus Wandelt

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 261–267, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.30

• leaves have been subjected to numerous studies [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]. Electron micrograph studies by Barthlott et al. [7] demonstrated the tubule-like assembly of nonacosan-10-ol molecules on lotus (Nelumbo nucifera) leaves, whilst their crystalline nature was verified by X-ray powder diffraction

• (XRD) and electron diffraction (ED) techniques [10][11]. Koch and co-workers applied tapping mode AFM to study the continuous growth of nonacosan-10-ol tubules on HOPG [8]. By applying a 10 µL droplet of natural wax molecules derived from nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus) and lotus (Nelumbo nucifera

• leaf surfaces. Experimental The nonacosan-10-ol wax materials, which were extracted with chloroform from lotus (Nelumbo nucifera) leaves, were obtained from the Nees Institute for Biodiversity of Plants at Bonn University. These wax materials, which were used in all our experiments, are actually a

Hierarchically structured superhydrophobic flowers with low hysteresis of the wild pansy (Viola tricolor) – new design principles for biomimetic materials

• Anna J. Schulte,
• Damian M. Droste,
• Kerstin Koch and
• Wilhelm Barthlott

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 228–236, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.27

• discovered interesting new wetting characteristics of the surface of the flower of the wild pansy (Viola tricolor). This surface is superhydrophobic with a static contact angle of 169° and very low hysteresis, i.e., the petal effect does not exist and water droplets roll-off as from a lotus (Nelumbo nucifera

• of the most important biological water repellent and self-cleaning surfaces is the lotus (Nelumbo nucifera) leaf [4][5]. Its water repellence is based on two factors: Surface roughness and a hydrophobic surface chemistry. The micro-morphological characteristics of lotus leaves are papillose cells

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

• lotus leaf became the archetype for superhydrophobicity and self-cleaning properties of plant surfaces and a model for technical analogues [3][4] . Lotus (Nelumbo nucifera) is a semi-aquatic plant and develops peltate leaves up to 30 cm in diameter with remarkable water repellency. As an adaptation to

• Bonn: Alocasia macrorrhiza (Elephant ear), Brassica oleracea var. gongylodes (Kohlrabi), Colocasia esculenta (Taro), Euphorbia myrsinites, Nelumbo nucifera (Lotus), Yucca filamentosa. For scanning electron microscopy, a Cambridge Stereoscan S200 SEM was used. Depending on the sample properties

• embedded sample. Assuming a contact angle of >140°, for example, the area of heterogeneous contact between single papillae and water (marks) is small in comparison to the epidermis cell area. SEM images of the papillose leaf surfaces of Nelumbo nucifera (Lotus) (a), Euphorbia myrsinites (b), Colocasia

Superhydrophobic surfaces of the water bug Notonecta glauca: a model for friction reduction and air retention

• Petra Ditsche-Kuru,
• Erik S. Schneider,
• Jan-Erik Melskotte,
• Martin Brede,
• Alfred Leder and
• Wilhelm Barthlott

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 137–144, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.17

• world [5][6]. The effective self-cleaning mechanism of the Lotus flower Nelumbo nucifera is especially well known [3]. Granting of a patent in 1998 [7], followed by the introduction of the trade mark Lotus-Effect® was the start of the realisation of biomimetic self-cleaning surfaces. Another highly

Biomimetics inspired surfaces for drag reduction and oleophobicity/philicity

• Bharat Bhushan

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

• animals, and seashells with properties of commercial interest. Certain plant leaves, such as lotus (Nelumbo nucifera) leaves, are known to be superhydrophobic and self-cleaning due to the hierarchical surface roughness and presence of a wax layer. In addition to a self-cleaning effect, these surfaces with

• used in micro/nanofluidics, it is desirable to minimize the drag force at the solid–liquid interface. A model surface for superhydrophobicity, self-cleaning and low adhesion is the leaves of water-repellent plants such as Nelumbo nucifera (lotus) [2][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. The leaf surface is very

• the negative replica. To generate several replicas the second step of replication was repeated twenty times for each surface type. Nanostructures were created by self-assembly of plant wax deposited by thermal evaporation [12][13]. Tubule forming wax, which was isolated from a leaf of Nelumbo nucifera