Researchers create superhydrophobic material inspired by porcupinefish
19/09/2019
Yoshihiro Yamauchi, Masanobu Naito and colleagues from the National Institute for Materials Science created microscale pufferfish-inspired scales made of zinc oxide and added a silicone polymer to add elasticity.
Unlike other superhydrophobic materials, the porous structure retained its water repellency after being repeatedly bent or twisted, as reported in science journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.
The researchers said: “Although the body surface of porcupinefish does not exhibit superhydrophobicity, our material with porcupinefish-like structure exhibited superhydrophobicity by extracting an essence of the creature having a unique structure composed of a hard scale and elastic skin.
“The material gives insight into the design of superhydrophobic materials, that it is important not only to mimic natural superhydrophobic structure but also to learn from natural nonsuperhydrophobic structure.”
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