Biomimetic Graphene Surfaces with Superhydrophobicity and Iridescence

Experimental and Theoretical Insights into Interfacial Properties of 2D Materials for Selective Water Transport Membranes: A Critical Review

Interfacial properties, such as wettability and friction, play critical roles in nanofluidics and desalination. Understanding the interfacial properties of two-dimensional (2D) materials is crucial in these applications due to the close interaction between liquids and the solid surface. The most important interfacial properties of a solid surface include the water contact angle, which quantifies the extent of interactions between the surface and water, and the water slip length, which determines how much faster water can flow on the surface beyond the predictions of continuum fluid mechanics. This Review seeks to elucidate the mechanism that governs the interfacial properties of diverse 2D materials, including transition metal dichalcogenides (e.g., MoS2), graphene, and hexagonal boron nitride (hBN). Our work consolidates existing experimental and computational insights into 2D material synthesis and modeling and explores their interfacial properties for desalination. We investigated the capabilities of density functional theory and molecular dynamics simulations in analyzing the interfacial properties of 2D materials. Specifically, we highlight how MD simulations have revolutionized our understanding of these properties, paving the way for their effective application in desalination. This Review of the synthesis and interfacial properties of 2D materials unlocks opportunities for further advancement and optimization in desalination.

Nature-Inspired Designs in Wind Energy: A Review

The field of wind energy stands at the forefront of sustainable and renewable energy solutions, playing a pivotal role in mitigating environmental concerns and addressing global energy demands. For many years, the convergence of nature-inspired solutions and wind energy has emerged as a promising avenue for advancing the efficiency and sustainability of wind energy systems. While several research endeavors have explored biomimetic principles in the context of wind turbine design and optimization, a comprehensive review encompassing this interdisciplinary field is notably absent. This review paper seeks to rectify this gap by cataloging and analyzing the multifaceted body of research that has harnessed biomimetic approaches within the realm of wind energy technology. By conducting an extensive survey of the existing literature, we consolidate and scrutinize the insights garnered from diverse biomimetic strategies into design and optimization in the wind energy domain.

High-Transmission Biomimetics Structural Surfaces Produced via Ultrafast Laser Manufacturing

Inspired by periodically aligned micro/nanostructures on biological surfaces, researchers have been fabricating biomimetic structures with superior performance. As a promising and versatile tool, an ultrafast laser combined with other forms of processing technology has been utilized to manufacture functional structures, e.g., the biomimetic subwavelength structures to restrain the surface Fresnel reflectance. In this review paper, we interpret the biomimetic mechanism of antireflective subwavelength structures (ARSSs) for high-transmission windows. Recent advances in the fabrication of ARSSs with an ultrafast laser are summarized and introduced. The limitations and challenges of laser processing technology are discussed, and the future prospects for advancement are outlined, too.

Micro-/Nano-Structures Fabricated by Laser Technologies for Optoelectronic Devices

Due to unique optical and electrical properties, micro-/nano-structures have become an essential part of optoelectronic devices. Here, we summarize the recent developments in micro-/nano-structures fabricated by laser technologies for optoelectronic devices. The fabrication of micro-/nano-structures by various laser technologies is reviewed. Micro-/nano-structures in optoelectronic devices for performance improvement are reviewed. In addition, typical optoelectronic devices with micro-nano structures are also summarized. Finally, the challenges and prospects are discussed.

Graphene Oxide for Integrated Photonics and Flat Optics

With superior optical properties, high flexibility in engineering its material properties, and strong capability for large-scale on-chip integration, graphene oxide (GO) is an attractive solution for on-chip integration of 2D materials to implement functional integrated photonic devices capable of new features. Over the past decade, integrated GO photonics, representing an innovative merging of integrated photonic devices and thin GO films, has experienced significant development, leading to a surge in many applications covering almost every field of optical sciences such as photovoltaics, optical imaging, sensing, nonlinear optics, and light emitting. This paper reviews the recent advances in this emerging field, providing an overview of the optical properties of GO as well as methods for the on-chip integration of GO. The main achievements made in GO hybrid integrated photonic devices for diverse applications are summarized. The open challenges as well as the potential for future improvement are also discussed.

Superhydrophobic graphene-based materials with self-cleaning and anticorrosion performance: An appraisal of neoteric advancement and future perspectives

Lotus like materials having superhydrophobicity is attaining greater demand due to the possibility of molding them into different high end applications. The major issue related to self-cleaning superhydrophobic surfaces is their restricted mechanical properties. The development of nanotechnology has brought many advantages in the fabrication and properties of superhydrophobic surfaces and thus it enhanced the demand of superhydrophobic surfaces. Many scientific groups have studied and reported about the superhydrophobicity exhibited by graphene and its analogous derivatives. The fabrication of the devices having properties ranging from anti-sticking and self-cleaning to anti-corrosion and low friction is made possible by the incorporation of this wonderful two-dimensional material. This review focuses on the preparation and properties of graphene based superhydrophobic coating materials with special mention to the wide range of applications rendered by them.

Laser Fabrication of Bioinspired Graphene Surfaces With Superwettability

The past decades have seen growing research interest in developing efficient fabrication techniques for preparing bioinspired graphene surfaces with superwettability. Among the various fabrication methods, laser fabrication stands out as a prominent one to achieve this end and has demonstrated unique merits in the development of graphene surfaces with superwettability. In this paper, we reviewed the recent advances in this field. The unique advantages of laser fabricated graphene surfaces have been summarized. Typical graphene surfaces with superwettability achieved by laser fabrication, including superhydrophobic graphene surfaces, oil/ water separation, fog collection, antibacterial surfaces, surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS), and desalination, have been introduced. In addition, current challenges and future perspectives in this field have been discussed. With the rapid progress of novel laser physical/ chemical fabrication schemes, graphene surfaces with superwettability prepared by laser fabrication may undergo sustained development and thus contribute greatly to the scientific research and our daily life.

Laser Fabrication of Graphene-Based Flexible Electronics

Recent years have witnessed the rise of graphene and its applications in various electronic devices. Specifically, featuring excellent flexibility, transparency, conductivity, and mechanical robustness, graphene has emerged as a versatile material for flexible electronics. In the past decade, facilitated by various laser processing technologies, including the laser-treatment-induced photoreduction of graphene oxides, flexible patterning, hierarchical structuring, heteroatom doping, controllable thinning, etching, and shock of graphene, along with laser-induced graphene on polyimide, graphene has found broad applications in a wide range of electronic devices, such as power generators, supercapacitors, optoelectronic devices, sensors, and actuators. Here, the recent advancements in the laser fabrication of graphene-based flexible electronic devices are comprehensively summarized. The various laser fabrication technologies that have been employed for the preparation, processing, and modification of graphene and its derivatives are reviewed. A thorough overview of typical laser-enabled flexible electronic devices that are based on various graphene sources is presented. With the rapid progress that has been made in the research on graphene preparation methodologies and laser micronanofabrication technologies, graphene-based electronics may soon undergo fast development.

Laser Fabrication of Graphene-Based Electronic Skin

Graphene is promising for developing soft and flexible electronic skin. However, technologies for graphene processing is still at an early stage, which limits the applications of graphene in advanced electronics. Laser processing technologies permits mask-free and chemical-free patterning of graphene, revealing the potential for developing graphene-based electronics. In this minireview, we overviewed and summarized the recent progresses of laser enabled graphene-based electronic skins. Two typical strategies, laser reduction of graphene oxide (GO) and laser induced graphene (LIG) on polyimide (PI), have been introduced toward the fabrication of graphene electronic skins. The advancement of laser processing technology would push forward the rapid progress of graphene electronic skin.

Reed Leaf-Inspired Graphene Films with Anisotropic Superhydrophobicity

Controlling the wettability of graphene and its derivatives is critical for broader applications. However, the dynamic dewetting performance of graphene is usually overlooked. Currently, superhydrophobic graphene with an anisotropic wettability is rare. Inspired by natural reed leaves, we report an ingenious fabrication process combining photolithography and laser holography technologies to create biomimetic graphene surfaces that demonstrate anisotropic wettability along two directions of grooved hierarchical structures, which are similar to reed leaf veins. Microgrooved structures with a period of 200 μm were fabricated via photolithography to endow the substrate with an obvious anisotropic wettability. Two-beam laser interference treatments of the graphene oxide (GO) film on the grooved substrate removed most of the hydrophilic oxygen-containing groups on the GO sheets and increased the surface roughness by introducing additional hierarchical micro-nanostructures. The combined effects endowed the resultant graphene films with a unique anisotropic superhydrophobicity similar to that of reed leaves. Superhydrophobic graphene surfaces with anisotropic antiwetting behavior might allow further innovations based on graphene in the fields of bionics and electronics.

Superoleophobic surfaces

This review systematically summarizes the recent developments of superoleophobic surfaces, focusing on their design, fabrication, characteristics, functions, and important applications.

Biomimetic superwettable materials with structural colours

This review aims at offering a comprehension elaboration of the mechanism, recent biomimetic research and applications of biomimetic superwettable materials with structural colours. Futhermore, this review will provide significant insight into the design, fabrication and application of biomimetic superwettable materials with structural colours.

Recent advances in the biomimicry of structural colours

Nature has mastered the construction of nanostructures with well-defined macroscopic effects and purposes. Structural colouration is a visible consequence of the particular patterning of a reflecting surface with regular structures at submicron length scales. Structural colours usually appear bright, shiny, iridescent or with a metallic look, as a result of physical processes such as diffraction, interference, or scattering with a typically small dissipative loss. These features have recently attracted much research effort in materials science, chemistry, engineering and physics, in order to understand and produce structural colours. In these early stages of photonics, researchers facing an infinite array of possible colour-producing structures are heavily inspired by the elaborate architectures they find in nature. We review here the recent technological strategies employed to artificially mimic the structural colours found in nature, as well as some of their current and potential applications.

Single-Step Process toward Achieving Superhydrophobic Reduced Graphene Oxide

We report the first use of spark plasma sintering (SPS) as a single-step process to achieve superhydrophobic reduced graphene oxide (rGO). It was found that SPS was capable of converting smooth and electrically insulating graphene oxide (GO) sheets into highly electrically conductive rGO with minimum residual oxygen and hierarchical roughness which could be well retained after prolonged ultrasonication. At a temperature of 500 °C, which is lower than the conventional critical temperature for GO exfoliation, GO was successfully exfoliated, reduced, and hierarchically roughened. rGO fabricated by only 1 min of treatment at 1050 °C was superhydrophobic with a surface roughness (Ra) 10 times as large as that of GO as well as an extraordinarily high C:O ratio of 83.03 (atom %) and water contact angle of 153°. This demonstrates that SPS is a superior GO reduction technique, which enabled superhydrophobic rGO to be quickly and effectively achieved in one single step. Moreover, the superhydrophobic rGO fabricated by SPS showed an impressive bacterial antifouling and inactivation effect against Escherichia coli in both aqueous solution and the solid state. It is envisioned that the superhydrophobic rGO obtained in this study can be potentially used for a wide range of industrial and biomedical applications, such as the fabrication of self-cleaning and antibacterial surfaces.

Bioinspired Underwater Superoleophobic Membrane Based on a Graphene Oxide Coated Wire Mesh for Efficient Oil/Water Separation

Inspired from fish scales that exhibit unique underwater superoleophobicity because of the presence of micronanostructures and hydrophilic slime on their surface, we reported here the facile fabrication of underwater superoleophobic membranes by coating a layer of graphene oxide (GO) on commercially available wire meshes with tunable pore sizes. Using the wire mesh as a ready-made mask, GO-embellished mesh with open apertures (GO@mesh) could be readily fabricated after subsequent O2 plasma treatments from the back side. Interestingly, the congenital microstructures of the crossed microwires in combination with the abundant hydrophilic oxygen-containing groups of the GO layer endow the resultant GO@mesh with unique underwater superoleophobic properties. The antioil tests show that the underwater contact angles of various oils including both organic reagents (undissolved in water) and vegetable oil on GO@mesh exceed 150°, indicating the superoleophobic nature. In a representative experiment, a mixture of bean oil and water that imitates culinary sewage has been well separated with the help of our GO@mesh. GO-embellished wire meshes may find broad applications in sewage purification, especially for the treatment of oil contaminations.

Biopatterning of Silk Proteins for Soft Micro-optics

Silk proteins from spiders and silkworms have been proposed as outstanding candidates for soft micro-optic and photonic applications because of their optical transparency, unique biological properties, and mechanical robustness. Here, we present a method to form microstructures of the two constituent silk proteins, fibroin and sericin for use as an optical biomaterial. Using photolithography, chemically modified silk protein photoresists are patterned in 2D arrays of periodic patterns and Fresnel zone plates. Angle-dependent iridescent colors are produced in these periodic micropatterns because of the Bragg diffraction. Silk protein photolithography can used to form patterns on different substrates including flexible sheets with features of any shape with high fidelity and resolution over large areas. Finally, we show that these mechanically stable and transparent iridescent architectures are also completely biodegradable. This versatile and scalable technique can therefore be used to develop biocompatible, soft micro-optic devices that can be degraded in a controlled manner.

Recent developments in superhydrophobic graphene and graphene-related materials: from preparation to potential applications

In the past decade, graphene has revealed a cornucopia of both fundamental science and potential applications due to its exceptional electrical, mechanical, thermal, and optical properties. Recently, increasing effort has been devoted to exploiting its new features, for example, wetting properties. Benefitting from its inherent material properties, graphene shows great potential for the fabrication of superhydrophobic surfaces, which could be potentially used for various anti-water applications. In this review, we summarize the recent developments in superhydrophobic graphene and graphene-related materials. Preparation strategies using pure graphene, graphene oxide, and graphene/polymer hybrids are presented and their potential applications are discussed. Finally, our own perspective of this dynamic field, including both current challenges and future demands, has been discussed. It is anticipated that the cooperation of the numerous merits of graphene and superhydrophobicity will lead to new opportunities for high-performance multifunctional devices.

Moisture-responsive graphene paper prepared by self-controlled photoreduction

A facile and cost-effective preparation of moisture-responsive graphene bilayer paper by focused sunlight irradiation is reported. The smart graphene paper shows moisture-responsive properties due to selective adsorption of water molecules, leading to controllable actuation under humid conditions. In this way, graphene-based moisture-responsive actuators including a smart claw, an orientable transporter, and a crawler paper robot are successfully developed.

Non-monotonous dependence of the electrical conductivity and chemical stability of a graphene freestanding film on the degree of reduction

The controlled oxygenation of rG-O nanosheets is quite effective in controlling the chemical bonding nature and surface morphology of the graphene films and also in optimizing their electrical conductivity and stability.

Stimuli-responsive protein-based micro/nano-waveguides

Protein-based single nano-wire waveguides constructed by FsLDW using BSA aqueous ink which might be applicable for uses as sensing probes.

Direct laser writing of graphene electronics

One of the fundamental issues with graphene for logic applications is its lack of a band gap. In this issue of ACS Nano, Shim and colleagues introduce an effective approach for modulating the current flow in graphene by forming p-n junctions using lasers. The findings could lead to a new route for controlling the electronic properties of graphene-based devices. We highlight recent progress in the direct laser synthesis and patterning of graphene for numerous applications. We also discuss the challenges and opportunities in translating this remarkable progress toward the direct laser writing of graphene electronics at large scales.

In situ growth of hierarchical boehmite on 2024 aluminum alloy surface as superhydrophobic materials

Super-hydrophobic lotus leaf like surface has been fabricated via growth of flower-like boehmite on 2024 aluminum alloy surface and subsequent POTS modification.

Bioinspired wetting surface via laser microfabrication

Bioinspired special wettibilities including superhydrophobicity and tunable adhesive force have drawn considerable attention because of their significant potential for fundamental research and practical applications. This review summarizes recent progress in the development of bioinspired wetting surfaces via laser microfabrication, with a focus on controllable, biomimetic, and switchable wetting surfaces, as well as their applications in biology, microfluidic, and paper-based devices, all of which demonstrate the ability of laser microfabrication in producing various multiscale structures and its adaptation in a great variety of materials. In particular, compared to other techniques, laser microfabrication can realize special modulation ranging from superhydrophilic to superhydrophobic without the assistance of fluorination, allowing much more freedom to achieve complex multiple-wettability integration. The current challenges and future research prospects of this rapidly developing field are also being discussed. These approaches open the intriguing possibility of the development of advanced interfaces equipped with the integration of more functionalities.

Superhydrophobic surfaces by electrochemical processes

This review is an exhaustive representation of the electrochemical processes reported in the literature to produce superhydrophobic surfaces. Due to the intensive demand in the elaboration of superhydrophobic materials using low-cost, reproducible and fast methods, the use of strategies based on electrochemical processes have exponentially grown these last five years. These strategies are separated in two parts: the oxidation processes, such as oxidation of metals in solution, the anodization of metals or the electrodeposition of conducting polymers, and the reduction processed such as the electrodeposition of metals or the galvanic deposition. One of the main advantages of the electrochemical processes is the relative easiness to produce various surface morphologies and a precise control of the structures at a micro- or a nanoscale.

Biomimetic graphene films and their properties

Biomimetic fabrication has long been considered a short cut to the rational design and production of artificial materials or devices that possess fascinating properties, just like natural creatures. Considering the fact that graphene exhibits a lot of exceptional properties in a wide range of scientific fields, biomimetic fabrication of graphene multiscale structures, denoted as biomimetic graphene, is of great interest in both fundamental research and industrial applications. Especially, the combination of graphene with biomimetic structures would realize structural and functional integrity, and thus bring a new opportunity of developing novel graphene-based devices with remarkable performance. In this feature article, we highlight the recent advances in biomimetic graphene films and their structure-defined properties. Functionalized graphene films with multiscale structures inspired from a wide range of biomaterials including rose petals, butterfly wings, nacre and honeycomb have been collected and presented. Moreover, both current challenges and future perspectives of biomimetic graphene are discussed. Although research of the so-called "biomimetic graphene" is still at an early stage, it might become a "hot topic" in the near future.