Researchers of the State Key Laboratory of Solid Lubrication, Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, have demonstrated a novel and convenient fabrication method based on polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) soft elastomer for creating Au surfaces with naturally occurring plant leaves’ surface morphologies, which result in hierarchies from the micrometer scale to nanometer scale.Lotus leaf and rice leaf as two templates were replicated successfully on PDMS initially.Then Au was sputtered on the PDMS surface, and Au surfaces with positive and negative biomimetic textures were fabricated and presented, followed by chemical modification with hydrophobic alkanethiol to enhance hydrophobic properties of biomimetic Au surfaces. Particularly, Au surfaces with opposite biomimetic structures showed different and interesting adhesion behaviors when a water droplet was placed on them.

The nearly superhydrophobic surfaces with controllable liquid-solid adhesion can be used for the construction of future generation smart devices.

The detailed report of the work was published in J. Phys. Chem. C (J. Phys. Chem. C 2010, 114, 11509–11514).

Abstract of the paper published in J. Phys. Chem. C