Fog-harvesting inspired by the Stenocara beetle—An analysis of drop collection and removal from biomimetic samples with wetting contrast

Introducing a new optimization tool for femtosecond laser-induced surface texturing on titanium, stainless steel, aluminum and copper

“…During laser micromachining, the ultra-short pulses of fslasers result in a minimal heat affected zone, which allows for high precision and damage-free material processing [12][13][14][15]. In addition to cutting and drilling, fs-lasers have been employed to produce microand nano-scale surface structures relevant in the fields of biomimicry [16][17][18], superhydrophobicity [18][19][20], color marking for counterfeit protection [21,22], and microfluidics [23,24]. Unfortunately, the exact formation mechanism (s) of such laser-induced surface topographies remain unknown due to the complexity of the laser machining process.…”

A facile strategy for the fabrication of a bioinspired hydrophilic–superhydrophobic patterned surface for highly efficient fog-harvesting

“…[3][4][5][6] It has been revealed that the great fog water collection capability of the beetles is resulted from the special structure on their back, which consists of an array of hydrophilic bumps distributed on a superhydrophobic background. 9,10 In producing such hydrophilic-hydrophobic patterned surfaces, three major strategies are generally utilized: (i) randomly disperse the hydrophilic glass spheres on a hydrophobic waxy substance; 3 (ii) mask-based lithograph method; [11][12][13] (iii) direct-patterning by inkjet printing, [14][15][16][17] with the strategies (ii) and (iii) being capable of precisely producing pre-designed patterns, which is strategy (i) incapable of. 9,10 In producing such hydrophilic-hydrophobic patterned surfaces, three major strategies are generally utilized: (i) randomly disperse the hydrophilic glass spheres on a hydrophobic waxy substance; 3 (ii) mask-based lithograph method; [11][12][13] (iii) direct-patterning by inkjet printing, [14][15][16][17] with the strategies (ii) and (iii) being capable of precisely producing pre-designed patterns, which is strategy (i) incapable of.…”

Laser-induced patterns on metals and polymers for biomimetic surface engineering

“…In addition the adjustability of their wetting behavior (outlined below) makes these again prominent candidates for fog harvesting, friction and wear applications. 15,18 Finally, the hairy PTFE structures created under laser irradiation not only show for such structures typical extreme non-wetting behavior similar to what can be observed for the water fern Salvinia molesta 3 , where the hairs hinder water protrusion into the mesh, but they also resemble scaffold material for extracellular matrix and tissue engineering based implants or drug carrying fiber tissue. 1 In summary, the structures created by femtosecond laser micromachining are varying in feature size and pattern depending on the underlying material and the chosen process parameters.…”

“…CO 2 and humidity exposure experiments have been carried out in a reactor and a home-built humidity chamber respectively, as explained elsewhere. 15 Titanium samples (99.9 % purity, McMaster-Carr, USA) and PTFE samples (McMaster-Carr, USA) of 1 mm thickness were polished before laser machining by 600 and 1200 grit sandpaper to an average roughness of 200 and 500 nm, respectively.…”