Biomimetics pp 49-65 | Cite as

Lotus Effect Surfaces in Nature

Chapter
First Online:
Part of the Biological and Medical Physics, Biomedical Engineering book series (BIOMEDICAL)

Abstract

Many biological surfaces are known to be superhydrophobic and self-cleaning with low adhesion/low drag. They also exhibit antifouling properties. In this chapter, various plant leaves, their roughness, and wax coatings in relation to their hydrophobic/hydrophilic and self-cleaning properties (Bhushan and Jung, 2011) will be discussed. Surface characterization of hydrophobic and hydrophilic leaves on the micro- and nanoscale is presented to understand the role of microbumps and nanobumps. In addition, the contact angle and adhesion and friction properties of these leaves are considered. The knowledge gained by examining these properties of the leaves and by quantitatively analyzing the surface structure will help in the design of superhydrophobic and self-cleaning surfaces.

Keywords

Atomic Force Microscope Contact Angle Adhesive Force Superhydrophobic Surface Contact Angle Hysteresis 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2012

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Nanoprobe Laboratory for Bio- and Nanotechnology and BiomimeticsOhio State UniversityColumbusUSA

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