Superhydrophobic, antiadhesive, and antireflective surfaces mediated by hybrid biomimetic salvinia leaf with moth-eye structures

In this paper, we successfully demonstrate multifunctional surfaces based on scaffolding biomimetic structures, namely, hybrid salvinia leaves with moth-eye structures (HSMSs). The novel fabrication process employs scalable polystyrene nanosphere lithography and a lift-off process. Systematic characterizations show the biomimetic HSMS exhibiting superhydrophobic, self-cleaning, antiadhesive, and antireflective properties. Furthermore, the resulting surface tension gradient (known as the Marangoni effect) leads to a superior air retention characteristic in the HSMS under water droplet impact, compared with the traditional hybrid lotus leaf with a moth-eye structure (HLMS). Such results and learnings pave the way towards the attainment and mass deployment of dielectric surfaces with multiple functionalities for versatile biological and optoelectronic applications.