Plastron properties of a superhydrophobic surface

Neil Shirtcliffe, Glen McHale, Michael Newton, Carole Perry, F. Brian Pyatt

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    172 Citations (Scopus)
    35 Downloads (Pure)

    Abstract

    Most insects and spiders drown when submerged during flooding or tidal inundation, but some are able to survive and others can remain submerged indefinitely without harm. Many achieve this by natural adaptations to their surface morphology to trap films of air, creating plastrons which fix the water-vapor interface and provide an incompressible oxygen-carbon dioxide exchange surface. Here the authors demonstrate how the surface of an extremely water-repellent foam mimics this mechanism of underwater respiration and allows direct extraction of oxygen from aerated water. The biomimetic principle demonstrated can be applied to a wide variety of man-made superhydrophobic materials.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)104106-104108
    JournalApplied Physics Letters
    Volume89
    Issue number10
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 4 Sept 2006

    Keywords

    • plastron
    • superhydrophobic
    • water repellent
    • biomimetic

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