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

• important milestone for the field of biomimetics. We, the guest editors of this thematic issue, could imagine no better way to celebrate that achievement than to gather a new set of publications in the fields of biology and materials science. In fact, these publications identify current topics in surface

• biomimetics and provide an overview of the development of superhydrophobic and self-cleaning biological and bioinspired surfaces over the past 25 years. The field that today is called “biomimetics” is almost as old as human history. Many examples in the literature show that in the early days of humankind the

• actual applications. This was also the case with the lotus effect. Biomimetics was finally given a name in the second half of the last century, interestingly just as humankind was finally achieving Icarus’s dream of flying closer to the sun. The big push in the field came with the rapid development of

Suspension feeding in Copepoda (Crustacea) – a numerical model of setae acting in concert

• Alexander E. Filippov,
• Wencke Krings and
• Stanislav N. Gorb

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 603–615, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.50

• . This protocol can be applied to any system in the future as the parameters (i.e., properties and arrangement of particles and setae) can be easily altered. This will shed light on the biomechanical adaptations of these structures to suspension feeding and provide inspiration for biomimetics in the

Biocatalytic synthesis and ordered self-assembly of silica nanoparticles via a silica-binding peptide

• Mustafa Gungormus

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 280–290, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.25

• . The results presented here provide a biomimetic route to the single-step synthesis and assembly of SiO2 nanoparticles into colloidal gels or opal-like structures. Keywords: biocatalysis; biomimetics; nanoparticle; peptide; self-assembly; silica; Introduction Ordered structures of nanoparticles have

Recent progress in cancer cell membrane-based nanoparticles for biomedical applications

• Qixiong Lin,
• Yueyou Peng,
• Yanyan Wen,
• Xiaoqiong Li,
• Donglian Du,
• Weibin Dai,
• Wei Tian and
• Yanfeng Meng

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 262–279, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.24

• clinical translation prospects, and the associated challenges are discussed. Keywords: cancer cell biomimetics; nanoparticles; precision medicine; targeted therapy; theranostic nanomedicine; Review 1 Introduction Biomimetic nanotechnology, an emerging interdisciplinary field, involves different

Straight roads into nowhere – obvious and not-so-obvious biological models for ferrophobic surfaces

• Wilfried Konrad,
• Christoph Neinhuis and
• Anita Roth-Nebelsick

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1345–1360, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.111

• obvious biological models are no guarantee for success, and that it is difficult to arrive at a formalised biomimetic working scheme. Rather, a broad understanding of biological function and its complexity is beneficial. Keywords: air-retaining interfaces; bioinspiration; biomimetics; biomimicry; blast

• furnace; Collembola; gas/liquid interfaces; interfacial effects; persistant air layers; pits; Salvinia molesta; surfaces; tuyère failure; water transport in plants; xylem; Young–Laplace equation; Introduction and Motivation The basic concept of biomimetics is the derivation of technical applications from

• water spider or the floating fern Salvinia molesta (and other Salvinia species), and their surfaces have an appearance similar to that of terrycloth. Both the Lotus effect and the surfaces with stay-dry-under-water potential became – after their introduction into biomimetics – popular items for the top

Growing up in a rough world: scaling of frictional adhesion and morphology of the Tokay gecko (Gekko gecko)

• Anthony J. Cobos and
• Timothy E. Higham

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1292–1302, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.107

• adhesion, measured experimentally, increased with body size across all surfaces. However, adhesive safety factor was not only lower on rougher surfaces, but also lower for larger animals. This has implications for ecology, especially habitat use through ontogeny, but also biomimetics. If we are attempting

• and biomimetics Our results detail the changes in both morphology and adhesive performance in relation to body size in a single species of gecko. These results generally align with other intraspecific studies, but not with interspecific studies. This mismatch is interesting, and requires further

• remain constant. If not, there might be negative interactions among the setal shafts (e.g., clumping). How can this be applied to biomimetics? Can we construct adaptable adhesive devices that accommodate different surfaces, or that can change depending on the need? Should robots be fitted with different

Laser-processed antiadhesive bionic combs for handling nanofibers inspired by nanostructures on the legs of cribellate spiders

• Sebastian Lifka,
• Kristóf Harsányi,
• Erich Baumgartner,
• Lukas Pichler,
• Dariya Baiko,
• Karsten Wasmuth,
• Johannes Heitz,
• Marco Meyer,
• Anna-Christin Joel,
• Jörn Bonse and
• Werner Baumgartner

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1268–1283, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.105

• randomly rough surfaces. The latter revealed that the adhesion of electrospun nanofiber nonwoven is significantly lowered on the nanostructured surfaces compared with the polished surfaces. Keywords: biomimetics; electrospinning; laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS); nanofibers

Hierachical epicuticular wax coverage on leaves of Deschampsia antarctica as a possible adaptation to severe environmental conditions

• Elena V. Gorb,
• Iryna A. Kozeretska and
• Stanislav N. Gorb

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 807–816, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.71

• epicuticular wax coverage on the leaf surfaces in the adaptation of D. antarctica to the severe Antarctic environment. Additionally, the results obtained from this highly specialized plant species might be potentially interesting for biomimetics of technical surfaces or surface coatings exposed to similar

Effect of sample treatment on the elastic modulus of locust cuticle obtained by nanoindentation

• Chuchu Li,
• Stanislav N. Gorb and
• Hamed Rajabi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 404–410, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.33

• most abundant, but least studied, biological composites. As a result, it has contributed very little to the field of biomimetics. An important step to overcome this problem is to study cuticle biomechanics by means of accurate mechanical measurements. However, due to many reasons, mechanical testing on

• : biomimetics; cuticle; locust; material properties; mechanical testing; nanoindentation; water content; Introduction Cuticle is a lightweight material that forms the whole exoskeleton of insects, from the flexible intersegmental membrane to the stiff jaws and claws. Cuticle of each insect body part has

Wet-spinning of magneto-responsive helical chitosan microfibers

• Dorothea Brüggemann,
• Johanna Michel,
• Naiana Suter,
• Matheus Grande de Aguiar and
• Michael Maas

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 991–999, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.83

• Dorothea Bruggemann Johanna Michel Naiana Suter Matheus Grande de Aguiar Michael Maas Institute for Biophysics, University of Bremen, Otto-Hahn-Allee 1, 28359 Bremen, Germany MAPEX Center for Materials and Processes, University of Bremen, 28359 Bremen, Germany Department of Biomimetics, Hochschule

Rapid, ultraviolet-induced, reversibly switchable wettability of superhydrophobic/superhydrophilic surfaces

• Yunlu Pan,
• Wenting Kong,
• Bharat Bhushan and
• Xuezeng Zhao

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 866–873, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.87

• and Biomimetics (NLBB), The Ohio State University, 201 W. 19th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210-1142, USA 10.3762/bjnano.10.87 Abstract Controllable wettability is important for a wide range of applications, including intelligent switching, self-cleaning and oil/water separation. In this work, rapid

Ultraviolet patterns of flowers revealed in polymer replica – caused by surface architecture

• Anna J. Schulte,
• Matthias Mail,
• Lisa A. Hahn and
• Wilhelm Barthlott

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 459–466, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.45

• strongly absorbing surfaces. Keywords: biomimetics; hierarchical structures; light absorption; light harvesting; light reflection; Introduction The outer epidermal surface of plants, the cuticle, forms the first and crucial boundary to the abiotic environment [1][2]. In most cases, this cuticle is a

Bidirectional biomimetic flow sensing with antiparallel and curved artificial hair sensors

• Claudio Abels,
• Antonio Qualtieri,
• Toni Lober,
• Alessandro Mariotti,
• Lily D. Chambers,
• Massimo De Vittorio,
• William M. Megill and
• Francesco Rizzi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 32–46, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.4

• sensor; biomimetics; flow direction; flow sensing; robotics; Introduction Biological lateral line organ Flow sensors in nature often have a morphological polarity, such as the hair cell sensors in the lateral line of fish [1], in jellyfish [2], arthropods [3][4] and crickets [5][6][7][8], as well as the

Contact splitting in dry adhesion and friction: reducing the influence of roughness

• Jae-Kang Kim and
• Michael Varenberg

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1–8, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.1

• more easily to the surface waviness and by reducing the effective average peeling angle. These findings can be used to guide the development of biomimetic shear-actuated adhesives suitable for operation not only on smooth but also on rough surfaces. Keywords: biomimetics; contact splitting; gecko

Biomimetic surface structures in steel fabricated with femtosecond laser pulses: influence of laser rescanning on morphology and wettability

• Camilo Florian Baron,
• Alexandros Mimidis,
• Daniel Puerto,
• Evangelos Skoulas,
• Emmanuel Stratakis,
• Javier Solis and
• Jan Siegel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2802–2812, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.262

• angle measurements of water drops placed on the surface reveal that a wide range of angles can be accessed by selecting the appropriate irradiation parameters, highlighting also here the prominent role of the number of scans. Keywords: biomimetics; femtosecond laser irradiation; laser-induced periodic

• ], or the colorful optical effects produced by the wings of a butterfly [3] are just a few examples of the many properties that have been successfully mimicked and used in different technological applications [4]. This area of science is called biomimetics, where many disciplines team up with the

• well defined. In terms of biomimetics, these structures resemble the tiles found on the skin of the Python regius snake, whose microstructure makes it very resistant to damage from wear by reducing friction (c.f. Figure 2E). Laser-based surface texturing has been used to mimic this structure in steel

The structural and chemical basis of temporary adhesion in the sea star Asterina gibbosa

• Birgit Lengerer,
• Marie Bonneel,
• Mathilde Lefevre,
• Elise Hennebert,
• Philippe Leclère,
• Emmanuel Gosselin,
• Peter Ladurner and
• Patrick Flammang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2071–2086, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.196

• Birgit Lengerer Marie Bonneel Mathilde Lefevre Elise Hennebert Philippe Leclere Emmanuel Gosselin Peter Ladurner Patrick Flammang Biology of Marine Organisms and Biomimetics Unit, Research Institute for Biosciences, University of Mons, 23 Place du Parc, 7000 Mons, Belgium Cell Biology Unit

Bioinspired self-healing materials: lessons from nature

• Joseph C. Cremaldi and
• Bharat Bhushan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 907–935, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.85

• Joseph C. Cremaldi Bharat Bhushan Nanoprobe Laboratory for Bio & Nanotechnology and Biomimetics (NLBB), The Ohio State University, 201 W. 19th Avenue, Columbus, Ohio 43210-1142, USA 10.3762/bjnano.9.85 Abstract Healing is an intrinsic ability in the incredibly biodiverse populations of the plant

• avenues of insight and research into self-healing materials. Keywords: animals; biomimetics, bioinspired; capsules; functional coatings; healing mechanisms; plants; protective surfaces; self-healing; vascular systems; Review Introduction The ability to heal is intrinsic to all multicellular organisms

Effect of microtrichia on the interlocking mechanism in the Asian ladybeetle, Harmonia axyridis (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae)

• Jiyu Sun,
• Chao Liu,
• Bharat Bhushan,
• Wei Wu and
• Jin Tong

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 812–823, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.75

• Jiyu Sun Chao Liu Bharat Bhushan Wei Wu Jin Tong Key Laboratory of Bionic Engineering (Ministry of Education, China), Jilin University, Changchun, 130022, P.R. China Nanoprobe Laboratory for Bio- & Nanotechnology and Biomimetics (NLB2), The Ohio State University, 201 W. 19th Avenue, Columbus, OH

Humidity-dependent wound sealing in succulent leaves of Delosperma cooperi – An adaptation to seasonal drought stress

• Olga Speck,
• Mark Schlechtendahl,
• Florian Borm,
• Tim Kampowski and
• Thomas Speck

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 175–186, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.20

• Olga Speck Mark Schlechtendahl Florian Borm Tim Kampowski Thomas Speck Plant Biomechanics Group, Botanic Garden, Faculty of Biology, University of Freiburg, Schänzlestraße 1, 79104 Freiburg, Germany Competence Network Biomimetics, Baden-Württemberg, Schänzlestraße 1, 79104 Freiburg, Germany

High-stress study of bioinspired multifunctional PEDOT:PSS/nanoclay nanocomposites using AFM, SEM and numerical simulation

• Alfredo J. Diaz,
• Hanaul Noh,
• Tobias Meier and
• Santiago D. Solares

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2069–2082, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.207

• the AFM probe diameter. No pressure-induced changes in conductivity were observed in the clay-free polymer either. Keywords: biomimetics; conductive AFM; conductive nanocomposites; contact-resonance force microscopy; multifrequency AFM; transparent coatings; Introduction Bioinspired material designs

Bio-inspired micro-to-nanoporous polymers with tunable stiffness

• Julia Syurik,
• Ruth Schwaiger,
• Prerna Sudera,
• Stephan Weyand,
• Siegbert Johnsen,
• Gabriele Wiegand and
• Hendrik Hölscher

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 906–914, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.92

• analysis of the pore structure. Therefore, our approach represents a non-chemical way to tune the elastic properties and their local variation for a broad range of polymers by adjusting the pore size gradient. Keywords: biomimetics; polymeric materials; supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2); tunable

Biological and biomimetic materials and surfaces

• Stanislav Gorb and
• Thomas Speck

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

• , Germany, Freiburg Institute for Interactive Materials & Bioinspired Technologies (FIT), 79104 Freiburg, Germany 10.3762/bjnano.8.42 Keywords: adhesion; bio-inspired materials; biomimetics; interfaces; lotus effect; surfaces; This Thematic Series is a tribute to Wilhem Barthlott, a famous German botanist

• be interesting for biologists, physicists, chemists, as well as materials scientists and engineers fascinated by biomimetics. The first article addresses the general relationship between universities, society, industry, and discuss borders within universities, borders in thinking, and the great

• at the Beilstein-Institut for their continuous great support of biology- and biomimetics-related topics in this journal. Stanislav Gorb and Thomas Speck Kiel and Freiburg, December 2016

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

• . Although this particular feature is easily observed and has nowadays become a standard experiment even in schools teaching bionics or biomimetics, it was virtually impossible to publish the results. Apart from an internal report of the University of Bonn [39] several attempts to publish the results failed

Structural and tribometric characterization of biomimetically inspired synthetic "insect adhesives"

• Matthias W. Speidel,
• Malte Kleemeier,
• Andreas Hartwig,
• Klaus Rischka,
• Angelika Ellermann,
• Rolf Daniels and
• Oliver Betz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 45–63, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.6

• surfaces [35][36], the molecular biomimetics of the adhesive liquids (adhesives) involved in biological adhesive systems remains in its infancy [37][38]. Emulsion-based glues are widely spread in technology and are deployed not only in casein glues, but also in releasable contact adhesives such as tapes

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

• Florian Antony Rainer Griesshammer Thomas Speck Olga Speck Plant Biomechanics Group, Botanic Garden, Faculty of Biology, University of Freiburg, 79104 Freiburg, Germany Öko-Institut e.V., Institute for Applied Ecology, 79017 Freiburg, Germany Competence Network Biomimetics, Germany Freiburg

• Materials Research Center (FMF), 79104 Freiburg, Germany Freiburg Centre for Interactive Materials and Bioinspired Technologies (FIT), 79110 Freiburg, Germany 10.3762/bjnano.7.200 Abstract Background: The debate on the question whether biomimetics has a specific potential to contribute to sustainability is

• -cycle assessment (LCA); Lotus-Effect® technology; Lotusan®; product sustainability assessment (PROSA); Introduction In-depth analyses of functions found in biology and the systematic transfer of the respective operating principles into technical applications is the essential aim of biomimetics [1][2