• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Agricultural Machinery Conference
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• 2017.04a
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• pp.110-110
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• 2017

Biological systems offer unique principles for the design and fabrication of engineering platforms (i.e., popularly known as "Biomimetics") for various applications in many fields. For example, the lotus leaves exhibit unique surfaces consisting of evenly distributed micro and nanostructures. These unique surfaces of lotus leaves have the ability of superhydrophobic property to avoid getting wet by the surrounding water (i.e., Lotus effect). Inspired by the surface topographies of lotus leaves, the artificial superhydrophobic surfaces were developed using various micro- and nanoengineering. Here, we propose new platforms that can control hydrophilic and hydrophobic property of surfaces by mimicking micro- and nanosurfaces of various natural leaves such as common camellia, hosta plantaginea, and lotus. Using capillary force lithography technology and polymers in combination with biomimetic design principle, the unique micro- and nanostructures mimicking natural surfaces of common camellia, hosta plantaginea, and lotus were designed and fabricated. We also demonstrated that the replicated polymeric surfaces had different hydrophilic and hydrophobic properties according to the mimicking the natural leaf surfaces, which could be used as a simple, but powerful methodology for design and fabrication of controlled hydrophilic and hydrophobic platforms for various applications in the field of agriculture and biological engineering.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.31-38
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• 2023

Three-dimensional (3D) micro/nanostructures based on soft elastomers have received extensive attention in recent years, owing to their potential and advanced applicability. Designing and fabricating 3D micro/nanostructures are crucial for applications in diverse engineering fields, such as sensors, harvesting devices, functional surfaces, and adhesive patches. However, because of their structural complexity, fabricating soft-elastomer-based 3D micro/nanostructures with a low cost and simple process remains a challenge. Bio-inspired designs that mimic natural structures, or replicate their micro/nanostructure surfaces, have greatly benefited in terms of low-cost fabrication, scalability, and easy control of geometrical parameters. This review highlights recent advances in 3D micro/nanostructures inspired by nature for diverse potential and advanced applications, including flexible pressure sensors, energy-harvesting devices based on triboelectricity, superhydrophobic/-philic surfaces, and dry/wet adhesive patches.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.02a
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• pp.448-448
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• 2011

We investigated the fabrication method of superhydrophobic nanocoating prepared by a simple spin-coating and the chemisorption of fatty acid. The resulting coating showed a tremendous water repellency (static water contact angle = $154^{\circ}$) and the water contact angle can be modulated by changing the number of deposition cycles of ZnO and the carbon length of Self-Assembled Monolayers (SAM). Varying the number of deposition cycles of ZnO controlled the surface roughness, and affected to the superhydrophobicity. This simple coating method can be universally applicable to any substrates including flexible surfaces, papers and cotton fabrics, which can effectively be used in various potential applications. We also observed the thermal and dynamic stabilities of SAM on ZnO nanoparticles. The superhydrophobicic surface maintained its superhydrophobic properties below $250^{\circ}C$ and under dynamic conditions.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.345-360
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• 2019

Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFC) is one of the leading advanced energy conversion technology for the use in transport. It generates water droplets through the catalytic processes and dispenses the water through the gas-flowed microchannels. The droplets in the dispensing microchannel experience g-forces from different directions during the operation in transport. Therefore, this paper reviews the computational modelling topics of droplet dynamics behaviour specifically for three categories, i.e. (i) the droplet sliding down a surface, (ii) the droplet moving in a gas-flowed microchannel, and (iii) the droplet jumping upon coalescence on superhydrophobic surface; in particular for the parameters like hydrophobicity surfaces, droplet sizes, numerical methods, channel sizes, wall conditions, popular references and boundary conditions.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.19-24
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• 2012

We demonstrate the desert beetle back mimicking hybrid superhydrophilic/superhydrophobic patterned surface by using the combination method of colloidal lithography and gravure offset printing for nano and micro patterning, respectively. The two methods are cost-effective and industrially available techniques compared to the other nano/micro patterning methods. To verify the water collecting function of the hybrid surface, the water condensation behavior is investigated on the chilled surface in ambient temperature and high humidity. Due to the synergetic effect of drop and film wise condensation, the hybrid superhydrophobic/superhydrophilic surface shows the higher efficiency than one of single wettability surfaces. The work is underway to get the good patterns of hybrid surfaces for water collecting from the dew or fog.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.384.2-384.2
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• 2016

Recent publications reported the self-propelled jumping of coalescing dew droplets on superhydrophobic surfaces [1-2]. We further investigated the initial growth, coalescence, and removal by self-propelled ejection of nano and microscopic water droplets on the superhydrophobic surface of lotus leaves under condensing conditions. By using a high-speed digital camera mounted on an optical microscope, we have found: (1) sub-micrometer droplets form and grow on nanoscale waxy hairs; (2) growing droplets coalesce rapidly upon contact, but never jump off the surface unless the diameter of merged droplets exceeds ${\sim}15{\mu}m$; (3) the diameter and direction of jumping droplets are very narrowly distributed, centered at $20-30{\mu}m$ and ${\sim}20$ degrees from the surface normal, respectively. We present a rationale for these observations on the basis of: (a) the hierarchically rough surface structure on nano- and micro-scales; (b) its chemical composition; and (c) the balance among competing forces of cohesion (surface tension), adhesion and gravity.

• Polymer Science and Technology
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.248-255
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• 2011

• Journal of Adhesion and Interface
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.116-121
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• 2015

In this study, octadecyltrichlorosilane (OTS) has been used to replace fluoro-silanes which are much more expensive than OTS. In order to improve the mechanical and adhesive properties of coating layers, inorganic binders were separately synthesized based on sol-gel reaction in acidic condition. Since the synthesized silica nanoparticles gave only nano-scaled roughness, superhydrophobicity is not well obtained. Here, we present a new simple approach by intentionally inducing particle aggregation in the solution which is controlled by adjusting solvent amount. With selecting suitable sizes of silica nanoparticles, superhydrophobic surfaces were obtained with increasing the amount of organic solvents after surface hydrophobization using OTS, and an extremely water-repellent behavior was observed with zero sliding angle. This superhydrophobicity was achived only for the dielectric constant lower than 25, regardless of the composition of solvent, meaning that the dielectric constant could be an excellent indicator for fabricating superhydrobic surfaces induced by particle aggregation in the solution.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.130-130
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• 2016

Bioinspired hierarchical nanostructures for self-cleaning s-tnwjurface and SERS substrates are investigated. The multi-level hierarchy is combined with CuO nanowire and additional nanoscale structures. CuO nanowire, which has extremely high aspect ratio, serves as a base structure of multi-level hierarchy and additional flower like structures are placed on the CuO nanowires. Since as-fabricated CuO nanostructures are hydrophilic, the surface is coated with perfluorooctyltrichlorosilane in order to change its wetting property to hydrophobic. While those CuO based nanostructures have a sufficient roughness for superhydrophobic characteristics, hierarchical nanoflowers on nanowire structures lead to a self-cleaning surface. Furthermore, flower like nanostructures provide reentrant curvatures, thus enabling oleophobic property. The surfaces has a repellency even for a tiny droplet (10 nL) of low surface tension liquids (~35 mN/m). On the on hands, nanoflowers provide many number of nanoscale gaps. After a thin layer of silver is deposited on the surface of CuO nanostructures, those nanoscale gaps act as hot-spot for surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). To analyze SERS enhancement of the surfaces, Raman shift is measured with varying molar density of 4-Mercaptopyridine from mM to pM. From these results, hierarchical CuO nanostructures are suitable for self-maintenance and cost effective SERS sensing applications.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.411-419
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• 2013

Various biomaterials have been widely used for biomedical applications, including bio-organs, medical devices, and clinical devices like vessel, blood pumps, artificial kidneys and hearts, even in contact with blood. The issue of blood compatibility has been studied intensively to prevent negative effects such as thrombosis due to the implanted devices. The use of lotus-leaf-like structured surfaces has been extended to an increasing number of applications such as contamination prevention and anticorrosion applications. Various methods such as template, sol-gel transition, layer-by-layer, and other methods, developed for the fabrication of lotus-leaf-like surfaces have been reported for major industrial applications. Recently, the non-wettable character of these surfaces has been shown to be useful for biomedical applications ranging from blood-vessel replacement to antibacterial surface treatment. In this review, we provide a summary of current and future research efforts and opportunities in the development and medical applications of lotus-leaf-like structure surfaces.