Sponsor
This work was supported in part by the NSF under Grant No. CBET-0651780, the start-up funds from the University of Florida, and the UF Research Opportunity Incentive Seed Fund.
Published In
Applied Physics Letters
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2-1-2008
Subjects
Biomimicry, Optical coatings -- Design and construction, Fluoropolymers
Abstract
We report a bioinspired templating technique for fabricating multifunctional optical coatings that mimic both unique functionalities of antireflective moth eyes and superhydrophobic cicada wings. Subwavelength-structured fluoropolymer nipple arrays are created by a soft-lithography-like process. The utilization of fluoropolymers simultaneously enhances the antireflective performance and the hydrophobicity of the replicated films. The specular reflectivity matches the optical simulation using a thin-film multilayer model. The dependence of the size and the crystalline ordering of the replicated nipples on the resulting antireflective properties have also been investigated by experiment and modeling. These biomimetic materials may find important technological application in self-cleaning antireflection coatings.
DOI
10.1063/1.2841818
Persistent Identifier
http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/7278
Citation Details
Sun, C., Gonzalez, A., Linn, N. C., Jiang, P., & Jiang, B. (2008). Templated biomimetic multifunctional coatings. Applied Physics Letters, 92(5), 051107.
Description
Article appears in Applied Physics Letters (http://apl.aip.org/) and is copyrighted (2008) by the American Institute of Physics. This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the American Institute of Physics.