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

• become an icon for superhydrophobicity and self-cleaning surfaces, and have led to the concept of the ‘Lotus effect’. Although many other plants have superhydrophobic surfaces with almost similar contact angles, the lotus shows better stability and perfection of its water repellency. Here, we compare the

• 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

• 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

Biomimetics inspired surfaces for drag reduction and oleophobicity/philicity

• Bharat Bhushan

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

• behavior of oil droplets on various superoleophobic surfaces created in the lab. Keywords: aquatic animals; biomimetics; drag; lotus plants; shark skin; superhydrophobicity; superoleophobicity; Introduction Biologically inspired design, adaptation, or derivation from nature is referred to as ‘biomimetics

• 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

• waxes on lotus leaves exist as tubules [10][11]. Water droplets on these hierarchical structured surfaces readily sit on the apex of the nanostructures because air bubbles fill the valleys of the structure under the droplet (Figure 1a). Therefore, these leaves exhibit considerable superhydrophobicity