Bioinspired Rose‐Petal‐Like Substrates Generated by Electropolymerization on Micropatterned Gold Substrates

Abstract

optimization of physical chemical methods to characterize nano-materials and nanostructures in order to study their interactions with cells and biomolecules and thereby assess their safety/bio-compatibility.S ubsequently,D r. Darmanin was made associate professor in the group of Prof. FrØdØric Guittard (NICE Lab, UniversitØ Côte d'Azur (UCA)). The focus of the group is to design novel su-perhydrophobic/superoleophobic surfaces by controlling the surface nanostructures (nanofibers, nanotubes, nanosheets) through electropolymerization. Moreover,t he adhesion of various liquids on these structured surfaces is studies. For such investigations, it is often necessary to combine two techniques to create micro-and nanoscale structures, in order to enhance the surface properties. Hence, collaboration was necessary to develop micro-patterned gold substrates by soft lithography (carried out at JRC) and to elec-tropolymerization on these substrates (carried out at NICE Lab). What are the main challengesi nthe broad area of your research? The main challenge in our field is the control of surface structures at both am icro-and nanoscale. Control of the surface is crucial to better understand the surface wetting properties from atheoretical point of view.V arious methods can be used to create micro-and nanostructures, lithographic techniques are probably the most flexible and can be applied to the design of well-defined, micropat-terned substrates. Electropolymerization is also au nique technique which induces the growth surface structures of various shapes (nanofibers, nanotubes, nanosheets, nanoparticles). What was the biggest surprise (on the way to the results presentedi nthis paper)? The biggest surprise was the huge influence of the micropattern-ing specifications (pillar diameter and pitch) and the electrochemi-cal parameters on the surface hydrophobicity and water adhesion. Moreover,i sw as possible to obtain the characteristics of extremely high apparent contact angles (up to 1608)a nd extremely high water adhesion, as observed in nature on rose petals. Such materials are extremely interesting for applications such as water harvesting and oil/water separation membranes. Invited for this month'sc over are the collaborating groups of Dr.T hierry Darmanin at UniversitØ Côte d'Azur,F rance and Dr.F ranÅois Rossi at JRC European Commission, Italy.T he cover picture shows an ovel strategy for preparing substrates having ar ose-petal effect (high water adhesion). The micropatterning specifications (pillar diameter and pitch) and the elec-tropolymerization parameters are key to obtaining both high water apparent contacta ngles and ah igh hysteresis. Read the full text of the article at

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