René Hensel

Wetting Resistance at Its Topographical Limit: The Benefit of Mushroom and Serif T Structures

Springtails (Collembola) are wingless arthropods adapted to cutaneous respiration in temporarily rain-flooded habitats. They immediately form a plastron, protecting them against suffocation upon immersion into water and even low-surface-tension liquids such as alkanes. Recent experimental studies revealed a high-pressure resistance of such plastrons against collapse. In this work, skin sections of Orthonychiurus stachianus are studied by transmission electron microscopy. The micrographs reveal cavity side-wall profiles with characteristic overhangs. These were fitted by polynomials to allow access for analytical and numerical calculations of the breakthrough pressure, that is, the barrier against plastron collapse. Furthermore, model profiles with well-defined geometries were used to set the obtained results into context and to develop a general design principle for the most robust surface structures. Our results indicate the decisive role of the sectional profile of overhanging structures to form a robust heterogeneous wetting state for low-surface-tension liquids that enables the omniphobicity. Furthermore, the design principles of mushroom and serif T structures pave the way for omniphobic surfaces with a high-pressure resistance irrespective of solid surface chemistry.

The springtail cuticle as a blueprint for omniphobic surfaces

Omniphobic surfaces found in nature have great potential for enabling novel and emerging products and technologies to facilitate the daily life of human societies. One example is the water and even oil-repellent cuticle of springtails (Collembola). The wingless arthropods evolved a highly textured, hierarchically arranged surface pattern that affords mechanical robustness and wetting resistance even at elevated hydrostatic pressures. Springtail cuticle-derived surfaces therefore promise to overcome limitations of lotus-inspired surfaces (low durability, insufficient repellence of low surface tension liquids). In this review, we report on the liquid-repellent natural surfaces of arthropods living in aqueous or temporarily flooded habitats including water-walking insects or water spiders. In particular, we focus on springtails presenting an overview on the cuticular morphology and chemistry and their biological relevance. Based on the obtained liquid repellence of a variety of liquids with remarkable efficiency, the review provides general design criteria for robust omniphobic surfaces. In particular, the resistance against complete wetting and the mechanical stability strongly both depend on the topographical features of the nano- and micropatterned surface. The current understanding of the underlying principles and approaches to their technological implementation are summarized and discussed.

In situ experiments to reveal the role of surface feature sidewalls in the Cassie-Wenzel transition.

Waterproof and self-cleaning surfaces continue to attract much attention as they can be instrumental in various different technologies. Such surfaces are typically rough, allowing liquids to contact only the outermost tops of their asperities, with air being entrapped underneath. The formed solid–liquid–air interface is metastable and, hence, can be forced into a completely wetted solid surface. A detailed understanding of the wetting barrier and the dynamics of this transition is critically important for the practical use of the related surfaces. Toward this aim, wetting transitions were studied in situ at a set of patterned perfluoropolyether dimethacrylate (PFPEdma) polymer surfaces exhibiting surface features with different types of sidewall profiles. PFPEdma is intrinsically hydrophobic and exhibits a refractive index very similar to water. Upon immersion of the patterned surfaces into water, incident light was differently scattered at the solid–liquid–air and solid–liquid interface, which allows for distinguishing between both wetting states by dark-field microscopy. The wetting transition observed with this methodology was found to be determined by the sidewall profiles of the patterned structures. Partial recovery of the wetting was demonstrated to be induced by abrupt and continuous pressure reductions. A theoretical model based on Laplace’s law was developed and applied, allowing for the analytical calculation of the transition barrier and the potential to revert the wetting upon pressure reduction.

The multi-layered protective cuticle of Collembola: a chemical analysis

Collembola, also known as springtails, are soil-dwelling arthropods that typically respire through the cuticle. To avoid suffocating in wet conditions, Collembola have evolved a complex, hierarchically nanostructured, cuticle surface that repels water with remarkable efficiency. In order to gain a more profound understanding of the cuticle characteristics, the chemical composition and architecture of the cuticle of Tetrodontophora bielanensis was studied. A stepwise removal of the different cuticle layers enabled controlled access to each layer that could be analysed separately by chemical spectrometry methods and electron microscopy. We found a cuticle composition that consisted of three characteristic layers, namely, a chitin-rich lamellar base structure overlaid by protein-rich nanostructures, and a lipid-rich envelope. The specific functions, composition and biological characteristics of each cuticle layer are discussed with respect to adaptations of Collembola to their soil habitat. It was found that the non-wetting characteristics base on a rather typical arthropod cuticle surface chemistry which confirms the decisive role of the cuticle topography.

Composite Pillars with a Tunable Interface for Adhesion to Rough Substrates

The benefits of synthetic fibrillar dry adhesives for temporary and reversible attachment to hard objects with smooth surfaces have been successfully demonstrated in previous studies. However, surface roughness induces a dramatic reduction in pull-off stresses and necessarily requires revised design concepts. Toward this aim, we introduce cylindrical two-phase single pillars, which are composed of a mechanically stiff stalk and a soft tip layer. Adhesion to smooth and rough substrates is shown to exceed that of conventional pillar structures. The adhesion characteristics can be tuned by varying the thickness of the soft tip layer, the ratio of the Young’s moduli and the curvature of the interface between the two phases. For rough substrates, adhesion values similar to those obtained on smooth substrates were achieved. Our concept of composite pillars overcomes current practical limitations caused by surface roughness and opens up fields of application where roughness is omnipresent.

Bioinspired polydimethylsiloxane-based composites with high shear resistance against wet tissue.

Patterned microstructures represent a potential approach for improving current wound closure strategies. Microstructures can be fabricated by multiple techniques including replica molding of soft polymer-based materials. However, polymeric microstructures often lack the required shear resistance with tissue needed for wound closure. In this work, scalable microstructures made from composites based on polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) were explored to enhance the shear resistance with wet tissue. To achieve suitable mechanical properties, PDMS was reinforced by incorporation of polyethylene (PE) particles into the pre-polymer and by coating PE particle reinforced substrates with parylene. The reinforced microstructures showed a 6-fold enhancement, the coated structures even a 13-fold enhancement in Young׳s modulus over pure PDMS. Shear tests of mushroom-shaped microstructures (diameter 450µm, length 1mm) against chicken muscle tissue demonstrate first correlations that will be useful for future design of wound closure or stabilization implants.

Free-floating hydrogel-based rafts supporting a microarray of functional entities at fluid interfaces

In the present paper, we report a method for fabricating a macroscopic, free-floating device that supports a microarray of molecular functional entities. Therefore, the fabrication process developed by us combines bottom-up and top-down microfabrication strategies for a spatially controllable integration of molecular entities into the macroscopic device. For application, the generated device is transferred to fluid interfaces. Through a combined experimental and theoretical study, we demonstrate that the microscopic cavities of the intrinsically hydrophilic comb-shaped mesh structure enable the flotation of the device at a water–air interface of a sessile droplet due to surface tension effects. The design of the functionalized and free-floating device affords a long-term stable approach with respect to a chemical patterning of this fluid interface without loss of the lateral arrangement of the functional entities over time.

Elevated temperature adhesion of bioinspired polymeric micropatterns to glass

Micropatterned polymer surfaces that operate at various temperatures are required for emerging technical applications such as handling of objects or space debris. As the mechanical properties of polymers can vary significantly with temperature, adhesion performance can exhibit large variability. In the present paper, we experimentally study temperature effects on the adhesion of micropatterned adhesives (pillar length 20µm, aspect ratios 0.4 and 2) made from three different polymers, i.e., polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), perfluoropolyether dimethacrylate (PFPEdma), and polyurethane (PU-ht). PU specimens showed the highest pull-off stresses of about 57kPa at 60°C, i.e., more than twice the value of unpatterned control samples. The work of separation similarly showed a maximum at that temperature, which was identified as the glass transition temperature, Tg. PDMS and PFPEdma specimens were tested above their Tg. As a result, the adhesion properties decreased monotonically (about 50% for both materials) for temperature elevation from 20 to 120°C. Overall, the results obtained in our study indicate that the operating temperature related to the glass transition temperature should be considered as a significant parameter for assessing the adhesion performance of micropatterned adhesives and in the technical design of adhesion devices.

Adhesion and relaxation of a soft elastomer on surfaces with skin like roughness

For designing new skin adhesives, the complex mechanical interaction of soft elastomers with surfaces of various roughnesses needs to be better understood. We systematically studied the effects of a wide set of roughness characteristics, film thickness, hold time and material relaxation on the adhesive behaviour of the silicone elastomer SSA 7-9800 (Dow Corning). As model surfaces, we used epoxy replicas obtained from substrates with roughness ranging from very smooth to skin-like. Our results demonstrate that films of thin and intermediate thickness (60 and 160 µm) adhered best to a sub-micron rough surface, with a pull-off stress of about 50 kPa. Significant variations in pull-off stress and detachment mechanism with roughness and hold time were found. In contrast, 320 µm thick films adhered with lower pull-off stress of about 17 kPa, but were less sensitive to roughness and hold time. It is demonstrated that the adhesion performance of the silicone films to rough surfaces can be tuned by tailoring the film thickness and contact time.