Energy‐Efficient Oil–Water Separation of Biomimetic Copper Membrane with Multiscale Hierarchical Dendritic Structures

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/138424/1/smll201701121-sup-0001-S1.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/138424/2/smll201701121_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/138424/3/smll201701121.pd

Superfast Liquid Transfer Strategy Through Sliding on a Liquid Membrane Inspired from Scorpion Setae

Although diversified biological structures have evolved fog collection abilities, the typical speeds of the condensed water droplets on these surfaces are too slow to have practical utility. The main challenge focuses on the elimination of the interfacial hydrodynamic resistance without external energy support. Here, an unusual strategy for superfast self‐support transfer condensed droplets is supported by sliding on seta of desert scorpion. It can be rapidly wetted by the fog droplets owing to its conical shape with linear gradient channels. A loss of interfacial resistance by this hydrodynamically lubricating water membrane could significantly accelerate the movement of the droplets, thus making its velocity increasing by one order of magnitude, or even more. Inspired by this novel strategy, the novel bioinspired materials are fabricated with the similar gradient channel structures and droplet transportation mode, which can make the condensed droplets spontaneously slide on the low‐friction liquid membrane. The fundamental understanding of superfast fog capture and the sliding dynamics of condensed droplets in this system could inspire to develop novel materials or various systems to transfer liquid fast and efficiently without external energy support.An unusual strategy for superfast transferring condensed droplets by sliding on liquid membrane of desert scorpion seta is reported. A loss of interfacial resistance could significantly accelerate the droplets by this hydrodynamically lubricating liquid membrane. Then, the bioinspired materials with similar droplet transportation mode are fabricated, which will inspire to develop novel materials to transport liquid without external energy.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/146306/1/admi201800802-sup-0001-S1.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/146306/2/admi201800802.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/146306/3/admi201800802_am.pd

Visualization of the left extraperitoneal space and spatial relationships to its related spaces by the visible human project.

BACKGROUND: The major hindrance to multidetector CT imaging of the left extraperitoneal space (LES), and the detailed spatial relationships to its related spaces, is that there is no obvious density difference between them. Traditional gross anatomy and thick-slice sectional anatomy imagery are also insufficient to show the anatomic features of this narrow space in three-dimensions (3D). To overcome these obstacles, we used a new method to visualize the anatomic features of the LES and its spatial associations with related spaces, in random sections and in 3D. METHODS: In conjunction with Mimics® and Amira® software, we used thin-slice cross-sectional images of the upper abdomen, retrieved from the Chinese and American Visible Human dataset and the Chinese Virtual Human dataset, to display anatomic features of the LES and spatial relationships of the LES to its related spaces, especially the gastric bare area. The anatomic location of the LES was presented on 3D sections reconstructed from CVH2 images and CT images. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: What calls for special attention of our results is the LES consists of the left sub-diaphragmatic fat space and gastric bare area. The appearance of the fat pad at the cardiac notch contributes to converting the shape of the anteroexternal surface of the LES from triangular to trapezoidal. Moreover, the LES is adjacent to the lesser omentum and the hepatic bare area in the anterointernal and right rear direction, respectively. CONCLUSION: The LES and its related spaces were imaged in 3D using visualization technique for the first time. This technique is a promising new method for exploring detailed communication relationships among other abdominal spaces, and will promote research on the dynamic extension of abdominal diseases, such as acute pancreatitis and intra-abdominal carcinomatosis

Active Antifogging Property of Monolayer SiO₂ Film with Bioinspired Multiscale Hierarchical Pagoda Structures

Antifogging surfaces with hydrophilic or even superhydrophilic wetting behavior have received significant attention due to their ability to reduce light scattering by film-like condensation. However, a major challenge remains in achieving high-speed antifogging performance and revealing the hydrophilic-based antifogging mechanism of glass or other transparent materials under aggressive fogging conditions. Herein, with inspiration from the fog-free property of the typical Morpho menelaus terrestris butterfly (Butler, 1866) wing scales, a monolayer SiO₂ film with multiscale hierarchical pagoda structures (MHPSs) based on glass substrate was designed and fabricated using an optimized biotemplate-assisted wet chemical method without any post-treatments. The biomimetic monolayer film (BMF) composed of nanoscale SiO₂ 3D networks displayed excellent antifogging properties, which is superior to that of the glass substrate itself. The MHPS-based BMF even kept high transmittance (∼95%) under aggressive fog conditions, and it almost instantaneously recovered to a fog-free state (<5 s). Moreover, the underlying active antifogging strategy gathering initial fog capture and final antifog together was revealed. The fogdrops spontaneously adhered on the BMF surface and rapidly spread along the MHPSs in an anisotropic way, which made the fogdrops evaporate instantaneously to attain an initial fog-free state, leading to an efficient active antifogging performance. These properties mainly benefit from the synergistic effect of both hydrophilic chemical compositions (nanoscale SiO₂) and physical structures (biomimetic MHPSs) of the BMF. High-speed active antifogging performance of the glass materials enabled the retention of a high transmittance property even in humid conditions, heralding reliable optical performance in outdoor practical applications, especially in aggressive foggy environments. More importantly, the investigations in this work offer a promising way to handily design and fabricate quasi-textured surfaces with multiscale hierarchical structures that possess high-performance physicochemical properties

Active Antifogging Property of Monolayer SiO₂ Film with Bioinspired Multiscale Hierarchical Pagoda Structures

Antifogging surfaces with hydrophilic or even superhydrophilic wetting behavior have received significant attention due to their ability to reduce light scattering by film-like condensation. However, a major challenge remains in achieving high-speed antifogging performance and revealing the hydrophilic-based antifogging mechanism of glass or other transparent materials under aggressive fogging conditions. Herein, with inspiration from the fog-free property of the typical Morpho menelaus terrestris butterfly (Butler, 1866) wing scales, a monolayer SiO₂ film with multiscale hierarchical pagoda structures (MHPSs) based on glass substrate was designed and fabricated using an optimized biotemplate-assisted wet chemical method without any post-treatments. The biomimetic monolayer film (BMF) composed of nanoscale SiO₂ 3D networks displayed excellent antifogging properties, which is superior to that of the glass substrate itself. The MHPS-based BMF even kept high transmittance (∼95%) under aggressive fog conditions, and it almost instantaneously recovered to a fog-free state (<5 s). Moreover, the underlying active antifogging strategy gathering initial fog capture and final antifog together was revealed. The fogdrops spontaneously adhered on the BMF surface and rapidly spread along the MHPSs in an anisotropic way, which made the fogdrops evaporate instantaneously to attain an initial fog-free state, leading to an efficient active antifogging performance. These properties mainly benefit from the synergistic effect of both hydrophilic chemical compositions (nanoscale SiO₂) and physical structures (biomimetic MHPSs) of the BMF. High-speed active antifogging performance of the glass materials enabled the retention of a high transmittance property even in humid conditions, heralding reliable optical performance in outdoor practical applications, especially in aggressive foggy environments. More importantly, the investigations in this work offer a promising way to handily design and fabricate quasi-textured surfaces with multiscale hierarchical structures that possess high-performance physicochemical properties

Construction and parameter optimization of LPBF-NiTi alloy bionic superhydrophobic surface based on laser processing

Nickel-titanium (NiTi) is the most ordinarily used shape memory alloy (SMAs), which has important implications in aerospace, medical devices and so on. However, NiTi parts were limited in their application scope and ability due to the difficulty of processing. Until the appearance of laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) technology, it overcame NiTi alloy preparation's multiple challenges and became the preferred method to fabricate NiTi alloy. Nevertheless, the NiTi parts fabricated by LPBF that have a great shortage still exist in corrosion resistance. Therefore, in this paper, a series of micro-nano structures with different characteristics were constructed in LPBF-NiTi by orthogonal experiment for the first time, which wants to explore the degree of influence of various parameters on the wettability of samples. After variance analysis, the nanolaser processing parameters which are most suitable for constructing lotus leaf structures on NiTi alloy surfaces are obtained. The surface morphology and composition were studied by SEM, XRD, EDS, and XPS, respectively. Finally, the corrosion resistance of samples was tested by electrochemical analysis. The results show that the laser power during processing has the greatest influence on the surface morphology of LPBF-NiTi alloy. And the wettability is affected by surface morphology and –CF/-CF2 adsorption. Furthermore, we compared the corrosion resistance of the superhydrophobic samples which was obtained based on the variance analysis with that of the substrate in 3.5 wt% NaCl solution. The result shows that the corrosion resistance and corrosion stability of superhydrophobic samples are brilliantly increased compared with the substrate

Bioinspired Omnidirectional Self-Stable Reflectors with Multiscale Hierarchical Structures

Structured surfaces, demonstrating various wondrous physicochemical performances, are ubiquitous phenomena in nature. Butterfly wings with impressive structural colors are an interesting example for multiscale hierarchical structures (MHSs). However, most natural structural colors are relatively unstable and highly sensitive to incident angles, which limit their potential practical applications to a certain extent. Here, we reported a bioinspired color reflector with omnidirectional reflective self-stable (ORS) properties, which is inspired by the wing scales of <i>Papilio palinurus</i> butterfly. Through experimental exploration and theoretical analysis, it was found that the vivid colors of such butterfly wings are structure-based and possess novel ORS properties, which attributes to the multiple optical actions between light and the complex structures coupling the inverse opal-like structures (IOSs) and stacked lamellar ridges (SLRs). On the basis of this, we designed and successfully fabricated the SiO₂-based bioinspired color reflectors (BCRs) through a facile and effective biotemplate method. It was confirmed that the MHSs in biotemplate are inherited by the obtained SiO₂-based BCRs. More importantly, the SiO₂-based BCRs also demonstrated the similar ORS properties in a wide wavelength range. We forcefully anticipate that the reported MHS-based ORS performance discovered in butterfly wing scales here could offer new thoughts for scientists to solve unstable reflection issues in particular optical field. The involved biotemplate fabrication method offers a facile and effective strategy for fabricating functional nanomaterials or bioinspired nanodevices with 3D complex nanostructures, such as structured optical devices, displays, and optoelectronic equipment