Experimental determination of the efficiency of nanostructuring on non-wetting legs of the water strider

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• 作者：Gregory S. Watson ; Bronwen W. Cribb ; Jolanta A. Watson
• 关键词：Water strider ; Insect ; Atomic force microscopy ; Micro/nanostructures ; Anti-wetting
• 刊名：Acta Biomaterialia
• 出版年：2010
• 出版时间：October 2010
• 年：2010
• 卷：6
• 期：10
• 页码：4060-4064
• 全文大小：602 K

文摘

Water striders demonstrate an amazing talent which enables them to effectively “row” across water surfaces without immobilization. This ability has previously been ascribed to the wax-like chemistry of the small hairs (setae) found on the legs, and theoretically attributed to the nano/microscaled hierarchical architecture of individual seta using the Cassie–Baxter equations. Here we show experimentally the strength of the contribution of the seta surface architecture to superhydrophobicity by maintaining identical surface chemistry (thin and thick coating of the setae with polydimethylsiloxane). Atomic force microscopy-based force and adhesion measurements of single uncoated and coated seta interacting with water quantitatively demonstrate the efficiency of the topographical component of the setae for repelling water.