Ziqi Sun¹; ¹Queensland University of Technology

Superhydrophobic and superhydrophilic surfaces have been extensively investigated due to their importance for industrial applications. It has been reported, however, that the superhydrophobic/superhydrophilic surfaces are very sensitive to heat, ultraviolet (UV) light, and electric potential, which interfere with their long-term durability. Biological species in nature have developed unique structures and functions very close to perfection to suit their specific living environments after millions of years of evolution and selection, which offer us excellent inspirations on developing artificial nanomaterials with extraordinary properties. In this study, we introduce a novel approach to achieve robust superhydrophobic/superhydrophilic surfaces by designing architecture-defined complex nanostructures by learning from natural species. Bio-inspired nanostructures with designed wetting behaviors have been successfully fabricated by mimicking the natural structures, such as fish scales and fly eyes. The unique surface properties of the bio-inspired nanostructures open a new way to design novel multifunctional nanomaterials.