REPLICA2 · REPLICA2: Large-area replication of biological anti-adhesive nanosurfaces

The project aims at designing and optimizing a pre-industrial process to produce artificial biomimetic anti-adhesive polymer/metal surfaces by direct copy of the morphology of a natural water-repellent substrates such as lotus leaves, and subsequent modification thereof. Thus, morphological modifications are exploited rather than chemical treatments to obtain water/ice/particle-repellent surfaces. The experimental procedure, devised in the ERC Starting Grant ""Bio-inspired Hierarchical Super Nanomaterials"" (BIHSNAM), has proven to be an extremely simple yet efficient way to exploit natural nano- and micro-structural hierarchical designs for the production of durable artificial antiadhesive surfaces. A modification and improvement of this process would lead to a considerable simplification in existing industrial production techniques, with the possibility of creating nanoscale features on large surfaces with a relatively uncomplicated and economical, and therefore industrially attractive method. The process under consideration should in this project be technically verified, improved and taken to a pre-commercial stage, for applications in industrial sectors such as white goods, automotive, air transport, and possibly advanced construction materials.""