Superior nanometre-scale structures mostly endow the unique properties in natural creatures to adapt the extremely harsh living environments. The cicada and drangonfly wings with the nanocone and the nanopillar structures, respectively, display excellent antireflection and antiwetting properties. In this work, the biomimetic nanocones and nanopillars on various polymer substrates inspired by cicada and drangonfly wings were fabricated by the combination of the plasma etching and the plasma polymerization deposition. The natural crystalline state and degree of different polymer materials could have obvious effect on the size and distribution of nanostructures. All polymer surfaces with nanocones and nanopillars demonstrated the reduced reflectance over the visible and near-infrared spectrum compared with the pristine surfaces. The weaker angle dependence of reflectance was achieved for the surfaces with nanocones. The surfaces with nanocones and nanopillars exhibit also superhydrophobicity due to the plasma polymerization deposition of fluorocarbon film. The stable superhydrophobicity of the nanocones and nanopillars with the Cassie state was found in waterdrop-impact experiments. The nanocone arrays exhibit better anti-warterdrop impacting ability than the nanopillars. The nanocones and nanopillars on flexible and curved polymeric materials enhance the superhydrophobicity showing reduce of the impalement probability and the contact time of waterdrops. The plasma nanotexturing methods composed of the plasma etching and the plasma polymerization deposition could be appropriate to fabricate biomimetic nanostructures of cicada and drangonfly wings on the polymer substrates.

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Y.P. Li, X.Y. Li, M.K. Lei, and A. Lakhtakia, "Biomimetic nanostructures on various polymer surfaces by plasma nanotexturing (Conference Presentation)," Proc. SPIE 10965, Bioinspiration, Biomimetics, and Bioreplication IX, 109650I (Presented at SPIE Smart Structures + Nondestructive Evaluation: March 05, 2019; Published: 29 March 2019); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2513728.6020105453001.