Lepore, Emiliano and Giorcelli, Mauro and Saggese, Chiara and Tagliaferro, Alberto and Pugno, Nicola (2013) Mimicking water striders’ legs superhydrophobicity and buoyancy with cabbage leaves and nanotube carpets. In «Journal of Materials Research», vol. 28, n. 7 Warrendale, PA, USA : Materials Research Society, pp. 976-983.
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Abstract
In this work, we have studied the superhydrophobicity and buoyancy of two types of nanostructured surfaces: the cabbage leaf and a vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (VACNTs) carpet. The wettability of these surfaces were characterized by contact angle, tilting angle, sliding volume and sliding speed measurements. The results were correlated to the related surface topologies, which were investigated by scanning electron microscopy. Buoyancy of different surfaces has been investigated through measurements of the forces acting on the surface. Finally, we demonstrate that cabbage leaves and VACNT carpets have some common features with the water strider’s leg, better understanding the mechanisms of buoyancy related to the structural shape and size of natural or artificial nanostructures.
Item Type: | Article in journal |
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FP7 Grant Agreement Number: | European Research Council/ERC Starting grant/EU/FP7/279985 |
Department or Research center: | Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering |
Subjects: | T Technology > TA Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General) > TA164 Bioengineering T Technology > TA Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General) > TA630 Structural Engineering |
Repository staff approval on: | 13 Nov 2013 15:00 |
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