Laser engineering of biomimetic surfaces

• Main Authors: Stratakis, E, Bonse, J, Heitz, J, Siegel, J, Tsibidis, G. D, Skoulas, E, Papadopoulos, A, Mimidis, A, Joel, A. -C, Comanns, P, Krüger, J, Florian, C, Fuentes-Edfuf, Y, Solis, J, Baumgartner, W
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 20-11-2020
• Subjects: Physics - Materials Science; Physics - Optics
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2011.10273

Materials Science & Engineering R 141, 100562 (2020) The exciting properties of micro- and nano-patterned surfaces found in
natural species hide a virtually endless potential of technological ideas,
opening new opportunities for innovation and exploitation in materials science
and engineering. Due to the diversity of biomimetic surface functionalities,
inspirations from natural surfaces are interesting for a broad range of
applications in engineering, including phenomena of adhesion, friction, wear,
lubrication, wetting phenomena, self-cleaning, antifouling, antibacterial
phenomena, thermoregulation and optics. Lasers are increasingly proving to be
promising tools for the precise and controlled structuring of materials at
micro- and nano-scales. When ultrashort-pulsed lasers are used, the optimal
interplay between laser and material parameters enables structuring down to the
nanometer scale. Besides this, a unique aspect of laser processing technology
is the possibility for material modifications at multiple (hierarchical) length
scales, leading to the complex biomimetic micro- and nano-scale patterns, while
adding a new dimension to structure optimization. This article reviews the
current state of the art of laser processing methodologies, which are being
used for the fabrication of bioinspired artificial surfaces to realize
extraordinary wetting, optical, mechanical, and biological-active properties
for numerous applications. The innovative aspect of laser functionalized
biomimetic surfaces for a wide variety of current and future applications is
particularly demonstrated and discussed. The article concludes with
illustrating the wealth of arising possibilities and the number of new laser
micro/nano fabrication approaches for obtaining complex high-resolution
features, which prescribe a future where control of structures and subsequent
functionalities are beyond our current imagination.