Facile Design and Realization of Extremely Water-Repellent Surface by Mimicking the Greta oto's Wings

Herein, we report a Greta oto wing-inspired functional surface (GWFS). A master mold of the GWFS is easily fabricated using the direct laser writing (DLW) method and wet etching, and the GWFS surface is replicated by using UV imprint lithography. The GWFS has randomly arrayed-microstructures, and various experiments focusing on the wettability of the Greta oto's wing are carried out. Diverse characteristics of the GWFS related to the wettability of water droplet such as superhydrophobic surface (-163.6), low sliding angle (-8 degrees), and non-wetting surface are investigated. On the basis of these properties, the self-cleaning performance of GWFS is verified to have a high particle removal efficiency of-97%. Lastly, as a feasible application, an advanced quadcopter system with the GWFS, which can directly take off from the water surface, is proposed. This facile fabrication strategy and the admirable wettability properties of GWFS are expected to be used in various fields and provide insights into not only the surface mechanics but also the development of advanced future drones.

Automated summary

This paper reports a functional surface inspired by the Greta oto wing (GWFS) and investigates its wettability properties through various experiments. Results show that GWFS exhibits superhydrophobic surface, low sliding angle, and non-wetting surface characteristics, and it also demonstrates efficient self-cleaning performance. Furthermore, an advanced quadcopter system using GWFS is proposed.