Self-Assembly of Shark Scale-Patterned Tunable Superhydrophobic/Antifouling Structures with Visual Color Response

Abstract

The stacked riblet-like shark scales, also known as dermal denticles, allow them to control the boundary layer flow over the skin and to reduce interactions with any biomaterial attached, which guide the design of antifouling coatings. Interestingly, shark scales are with a wide variation in geometry both across species and body locations, thereby displaying diversified antifouling capabilities. Inspired by the multifarious denticles, a stretchable shark scalepatterned silica hollow sphere colloidal crystal/polyperfluoroether acrylatepolyurethane acrylate composite film is engineered through a scalable selfassembly approach. Upon stretching, the patterned photonic crystals feature different short-term antibacterial and long-term anti-biofilm performances with a distinguished color response under varied elongation ratios. To gain a better understanding, the dependence of elongation ratio on antiwetting behaviors, antifouling performances, and structural color changes has also been investigated in this research.

Nature-Inspired Micro/Nano-Structured Antibacterial Surfaces

“…In addition, removing dust particles from leaf surfaces can minimize changes in plants, such as overheating or salt damage. Although lotus leaves have been used as hydrophobic and self-cleaning model surfaces, many other biological surfaces exhibit similar properties [19,35]. Most natural antibacterial surfaces have evolved to possess a high-aspect-ratio nano-/micro-structure morphology to protect them from pathogenic infestation.…”

Superhydrophobic Flexible Strain Sensors Constructed Using Nanomaterials: Their Fabrications and Sustainable Applications

“…A superhydrophobic surface is characterized by its minimal affinity for water molecules, effectively preventing water droplets from adhering to the surface and facilitating rollingoff. The superhydrophobic property was initially observed on surfaces of natural living organisms, such as lotus leaves [37,38] and shark skin [39,40]. Wettability, primarily assessed through the contact angle (CA) and rolling angle (SA) of water, is a critical characteristic of solid surfaces.…”