Beilstein J. Nanotechnol.2011,2, 228–236, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.27
leaves (petals) of many plants are superhydrophobic, but water droplets do not roll-off when the surfaces are tilted. On such surfaces water droplets are in the “Cassie impregnating wetting state”, which is also known as the “petaleffect”. By analyzing the petal surfaces of different species, we
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 petaleffect does not exist and water droplets roll-off as from a lotus (Nelumbo nucifera
superhydrophobic, low adhesive surface design, which combines the hierarchical structuring of petals with a wetting behavior similar to that of the lotus leaf.
Keywords: anti-adhesive; petaleffect; petal structures; polymer replication; superhydrophobic; Introduction
Plant surfaces provide a large diversity of
PDF
Figure 1:
Macro photo of a water droplet on a flower of the wild pansy (Viola tricolor).