Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Tengfei Xiang, Huangwei Ren, Yanli Zhang, Yujie Qiang, Yang Yang, Cheng Li, Peng Wang, Shihong Zhang
Summary: In this study, a stable triple-layered slippery surface was designed and developed for corrosion protection of metals. The surface exhibited good sliding performance, stability, and long-term anti-corrosion protection without corrosion product generation. This triple-layered slippery surface has the potential to be widely applied in the marine and other industries.
MATERIALS & DESIGN
(2022)
Review
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Danyan Zhan, Zhiguang Guo
Summary: Nature uses its wisdom to create elegant and suitable solutions, resulting in organisms with fine hierarchical structures that adapt to harsh environments. Fog collection is an efficient method to obtain water, and biomimetic hierarchical structures play a crucial role in facilitating this process. This review provides an overview of fog collection, including the basic principles, the role of hierarchical structures, and the analysis of representative works from a biomimetic and spatial dimensional perspective.
MATERIALS HORIZONS
(2023)
Review
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Danyan Zhan, Zhiguang Guo
Summary: This review discusses the basic principles of fog collection, the role of hierarchical structures in fog collection, and the performance analysis of different designs. It also proposes a new method to analyze hierarchical structure designs. The review provides an overall overview of recent research from a dynamic and spatial dimensional perspective.
MATERIALS HORIZONS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Jiao Chen, Hanhan Wang, Xing Liu, Xia Han, Honglai Liu
Summary: Regulating the hydrophilic-hydrophobic balance of polymers has a significant impact on their aggregation behavior in aqueous solution, adhesion properties on substrate surfaces, and applications of modified surfaces. By adjusting pH or temperature, the aggregation behavior in aqueous solutions and surface adhesion behavior of copolymers can be regulated. Increasing the hydrophobicity of copolymers enhances surface adsorption and improves oil-water separation performance. Changing the ratio of hydrophilic components in copolymers can tune the properties of coatings, providing a reference for designing coatings in different application environments.
Article
Engineering, Biomedical
Andre Moreira, Sara Madeira, Mihaela Buciumeanu, Joana Fialho, Angela Carvalho, Filipe Silva, Fernando J. Monteiro, Joao Carames
Summary: The use of zirconia as an alternative biomaterial for titanium implants has been increasing due to its biocompatibility and favorable aesthetic features. This study focused on designing silica coatings with micropatterns to promote effective osseointegration. The results showed that the micropatterned coatings, especially the lines micropattern, exhibited improved hydrophilicity and integrity, making them promising surfaces for enhanced bone formation after implant insertion.
JOURNAL OF THE MECHANICAL BEHAVIOR OF BIOMEDICAL MATERIALS
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Marine
Zheping Yan, Haoyu Yang, Wei Zhang, Fantai Lin, Qingshuo Gong, Yu Zhang
Summary: This paper proposes a new type of bionic fish tail and optimizes its parameters using the fish body wave equation. The trajectory tracking control of the bionic fish is achieved by combining the central pattern generator (CPG) and the sliding mode controller. The effectiveness of the proposed methods is verified through simulations and experiments.
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Sin Tee Tan, Fang Sheng Lim, Weng Jon Lee, Hock Beng Lee, Kai Jeat Hong, Hind Fadhil Oleiwi, Wei Sea Chang, Chi Chin Yap, Mohammad Hafizuddin Hj Jumali
Summary: Highly crystalline and ordered Bi/ZnO nanorods arrays (Bi/ZNRs) were successfully grown on FTO substrate via a feasible hydrothermal method, with an increase in lateral diameter as reaction time increased. Crystal defects originating from different Bi incorporation pathways were identified as the main factor altering the optical and electrical properties of Bi/ZNRs. Bi behaved as a pentavalent dopant contributing to increased free electron density and a higher local current in Bi/ZNRs compared to pristine ZNRs. Additionally, Bi/ZNRs exhibited a red shift in optical energy band gap and a wetting transition from hydrophobic to hydrophilic surfaces, showing potential for high performance optoelectronic devices.
JOURNAL OF MATERIALS RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY-JMR&T
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Yunlong Guo, John Canning, Zenon Chaczko
Summary: This study proposes the use of plants as quantifiable natural sensors and demonstrates a case study using a novel smartphone field interrogator to measure the surface wettability of Aucuba japonica plants. The research reveals that contact angle measurements can map wettability on-site and characterize properties impacting plant health. The study also shows that UVA irradiation accelerates aging in plants, and leaves growing near roads with heavy traffic exhibit increased wettability due to particulate accumulation. The results demonstrate the potential for using portable diagnostic IoT edge devices and plant sensors for environmental detection and pollution assessment.
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Yuting Zhao, Tonghui Hao, Wei Wu, Yuan Meng, Xianwu Cao, Qunchao Zhang, Wei She, Jun You, Dean Shi, Tao Jiang
Summary: This work demonstrates an eco-friendly and robust superhydrophobic coating based on siloxane-modified hyperbranched waterborne polyurethane (Si-HBPU) and fluorinated silica nanoparticles (F-SiO2). The coating shows excellent water repellency and mechanical robustness, and is capable of maintaining superhydrophobicity even after sandpaper abrasion. Additionally, it exhibits outstanding anti-icing/deicing performance and scratch resistance, anti-fouling, and anti-corrosion properties.
APPLIED SURFACE SCIENCE
(2022)
Review
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Shangjie Ge-Zhang, Taoyang Cai, Hong Yang, Yuyang Ding, Mingbo Song
Summary: This article introduces the structures and characteristics of superhydrophobic surfaces in nature and summarizes the applications in various fields. It also discusses the challenges and future development direction of bionic superhydrophobic surfaces.
FRONTIERS IN BIOENGINEERING AND BIOTECHNOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Automation & Control Systems
Gang Chen, Yidong Xu, Chenguang Yang, Xin Yang, Huosheng Hu, Xinxue Chai, Donghai Wang
Summary: This article presents the development of a novel bionic robot, inspired by the agile and fast mantis shrimp in the ocean. The robot has ten rigid-flexible swimming feet for propulsion and a rope-driven spine for body bending. A central pattern generator controller is proposed and experimentally verified to effectively simulate the swimming motion of mantis shrimp, with a maximum swimming velocity of 0.28 m/s and a minimum turning radius of 0.36 m. The influence of control parameters on the robot's swimming performance is also investigated.
IEEE-ASME TRANSACTIONS ON MECHATRONICS
(2023)
Article
Agricultural Engineering
Shreya Gupta, Jayanth Ivvala, H. S. Grewal
Summary: In this work, environment friendly non-fluorinated superhydrophobic composite coatings were developed using carnauba wax with hierarchically structured morphologies. These coatings exhibited extreme dewetting with superhydrophobicity and high resilience to simulated rain and weathering. The composite wax showed higher ultimate strength and elastic modulus compared to non-reinforced wax, providing an effective and environmentally friendly solution for developing superhydrophobic self-cleaning surfaces.
INDUSTRIAL CROPS AND PRODUCTS
(2021)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Shanpeng Li, Jingxin Zhu, Cong Liu, Ruihua Zhang, Jianlin Liu, Zhiguang Guo
Summary: By mimicking the unique corrugated driving structures in the Bird's Nest Fern, we have developed a 3D kirigami structure that can be fabricated by simple shearing and stretching. This structure exhibits a unique load responsiveness, leading to an increase in the water collection ratio with the external load. It possesses a 3D array configuration to enhance flow velocity for efficient droplet condensation, and geometric and wetting gradients for spontaneous and rapid transport of condensate droplets, resulting in a high water collection efficiency. The water collection ratio can reach 3.45 times that of a pure iron sheet by only changing the geometric structure, and even reach 4.58 times with the assistance of wetting gradients.
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING JOURNAL
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Erfan Nezhadghaffar-Borhani, Amin Abdollahi, Hossein Roghani-Mamaqani, Mehdi Salami-Kalajahi
Summary: Polymeric coatings with photo-responsive properties can switch between hydrophobic and hydrophilic states through light irradiation, displaying ultrahydrophobic characteristics. This technology has great potential in the development of smart surfaces.
JOURNAL OF COLLOID AND INTERFACE SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Alexey Y. Zhizhchenko, Anastasiia V. Shabalina, Ali A. Aljulaih, Stanislav O. Gurbatov, Aleksandr A. Kuchmizhak, Satoru Iwamori, Sergei A. Kulinich
Summary: This study investigated the long-term stability of organosilane layers formed on polished aluminum alloy in contact with water. The results showed that the prepared organosilane layer gradually hydrolyzed over time, allowing water to interact with the underlying layer and causing a decrease in hydrophobicity. Additionally, local electrochemical corrosion was observed in the one-layer samples after immersion in water.
