Creating Hydrophobic Foils From Biopolymer Blends Using Mechanical Microimprinting

The front cover artwork is provided by Hang Liu from Prof. Dr. Joachim Albrecht's and Prof. Dr. Katharina Weber's group at Aalen University. The image depicts the wetting properties of a biopolymer foil. Surface microstructuring allows the tailoring of physical chemical properties that can lead to biodegradable packaging foils. Read the full text of the Research Article at 10.1002/cphc.202300301.

Creating Hydrophobic Foils From Biopolymer Blends Using Mechanical Microimprinting

The surface topography of biodegradable polymer foils is modified by mechanical imprinting on a submillimeter length scale. The created patterns strongly influence the wetting behavior and allow the preparation of hydrophobic surfaces with controlled solid-liquid interaction. A detailed analysis of anisotropic surface patterns reveals that the observed effect arises from a combination of topographical and compositional changes that are introduced to the surface. As a main result it is found that an individual combination of material and structure is required for the production of water-repellent biopolymer foils that are highly attractive for packaging applications.