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Mass-producible replication of highly hydrophobic surfaces from plant leaves

Seung-Mo Lee and Tai Hun Kwon1

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Many plant leaves found in nature are known to exhibit a characteristic of superhydrophobicity ('lotus leaf effect'). The present study proposes a mass-production method of highly hydrophobic surfaces by simply replicating the highly hydrophobic plant leaf surfaces in two steps: the first step of making a nickel mould via electroforming and the second step of replication via a UV-nanoimprint lithography. Making a nickel mould, either a plant leaf or its negative polymer replica is used as a mandrel in electroforming, and final products become positive or negative polymer replicas of a plant leaf, respectively. It is found that the nickel-mould making using the plant leaf as a mandrel is quite successful and the final products in the form of a positive replica are better than those in the form of a negative replica in terms of replication quality and hydrophobicity. Contact angle values of the positive replicas are less than those of the natural leaves' surfaces by only 2°–5°.


PACS

81.16.Nd Nanolithography

81.20.Hy Forming; molding, extrusion etc.

85.85.+j Micro- and nano-electromechanical systems (MEMS/NEMS) and devices

Subjects

Electronics and devices

Condensed matter: structural, mechanical & thermal

Nanoscale science and low-D systems

Dates

Issue 13 (14 July 2006)

Received 21 February 2006, in final form 7 May 2006

Published 7 June 2006



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