Biomimetics and bioinspired surfaces: from nature to theory and applications

• Rhainer Guillermo Ferreira,
• Thies H. Büscher,
• Manuela Rebora,
• Poramate Manoonpong,
• Zhendong Dai and
• Stanislav N. Gorb

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 418–421, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.32

• mammals while addressing the functional fibrillar interfaces in biological hair. Presenting one applied example for biomimetic approaches, Ali et al. [7] used the hydrophobicity of the integument of spring tail (Collembola) as a template for the bioinspired development of nanofilament coatings that reduce

Bioinspired nanofilament coatings for scale reduction on steel

• Siad Dahir Ali,
• Mette Heidemann Rasmussen,
• Jacopo Catalano,
• Christian Husum Frederiksen and
• Tobias Weidner

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 25–34, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.3

• , Danish Technical University, 2800 Kongens Lyngby, Denmark 10.3762/bjnano.16.3 Abstract Scaling of steel surfaces, prevalent in various industrial applications, results in significant operational inefficiencies and maintenance costs. Inspired by the natural hydrophobicity of springtail (Collembola) skin

• : bioinspired materials; calcium carbonate; offshore assets; stainless-steel coating; super-hydrophobicity; Introduction Small animals, such as insects, springtails (Collembola), and other hexapods, have distinctly large surface-to-volume ratios. This characteristic imposes significant challenges in terms of

• , which serve as a barrier against unwanted wetting [4][5]. Collembola breathe through their skin and, since they live in humid environments, need to retain air near their skin for survival in diverse habitats [6] (Figure 1A,B). Drawing inspiration from Collembola, our study delves into the potential

Straight roads into nowhere – obvious and not-so-obvious biological models for ferrophobic surfaces

• Wilfried Konrad,
• Christoph Neinhuis and
• Anita Roth-Nebelsick

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1345–1360, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.111

• iron. Therefore, biological external surfaces that strongly repel liquids appeared to be suitable, particularly the hair cover of the water fern Salvinia molesta and the surface of Collembola (an arthropod group). It turned out, however, that it was not feasible to realise the functional structures of

• furnace; Collembola; gas/liquid interfaces; interfacial effects; persistant air layers; pits; Salvinia molesta; surfaces; tuyère failure; water transport in plants; xylem; Young–Laplace equation; Introduction and Motivation The basic concept of biomimetics is the derivation of technical applications from

• ) and the skin structure of springtails (Collembola, see Figure 3) [3][21][22], both of which are known to accommodate gas layers. Kariba weed (Salvinia molesta) In the case of Salvinia molesta, stable water/air interfaces form at the tips of leaf hairs, which are topped by eggbeater-like structures

Collembola cuticles and the three-phase line tension

• Håkon Gundersen,
• Hans Petter Leinaas and
• Christian Thaulow

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1714–1722, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.172

• springtails (Collembola) are superhydrophobic, but the mechanism has not been described in detail. Previous studies have suggested that overhanging surface structures play an important role, but such structures are not a universal trait among springtails with superhydrophobic cuticles. A novel wetting

• . clavatus does not have overhanging surface structures. This large change in observed contact angles can be explained with a modest change of the three-phase line tension. Keywords: springtails (Collembola); superhydrophobicity; three-phase line tension; Introduction Collembola, a group of small

• of and the mechanism behind natural water-repellent surfaces is therefore of great interest beyond the field of biology. Many natural surfaces feature hierarchical structures, which are difficult to reproduce biomimetically. Collembola cuticles feature surface structuring on a single, sub-micrometer