Biomimetic Polymer Surfaces by High Resolution Molding of the Wings of Different Cicadas

Abstract

Recent studies have shown that insect wings have evolved to have micro- and nanoscale structures on the wing surface, and biomimetic research aims to transfer such structures to application-specific materials. Herein, we describe a simple and cost-effective method of replica molding the wing topographies of four cicada species using UV-curable polymers. Different polymer blends of polyethylene glycol diacrylate and polypropylene glycol diacrylate were used as molding materials and a molding chamber was designed to precisely control the x, y, and z dimensions. Analysis by scanning electron microscopy showed that structures ranged from 148 to 854 nm in diameter, with a height range of 191–2368 nm, and wing patterns were transferred with high fidelity to the crosslinked polymer. Finally, bacterial cell studies show that the wing replicas possess the same antibacterial effect as the cicada wing from which they were molded. Overall, this work shows a quick and simple method for patterning UV-curable polymers without the use of expensive equipment, making it a highly accessible means of producing microstructured materials with biological properties.

Designing Effective Antimicrobial Nanostructured Surfaces: Highlighting the Lack of Consensus in the Literature

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“…(a) The number of instances of each microorganism being tested in studies and (b) the number of instances of each incubation time. Data provided by refs , , , , − , − , − , − , − , and .…”

“…Only studies that reported the killing efficiency as a percentage of dead bacteria attached to the surface were included. Data provided by refs , , − , − , and − . Statistical analysis was performed in the software GraphPad Prism 9, using a one-way ANOVA (ns = not significant, * p < 0.05, **** p < 0.0001).…”

Nature‐Inspired Biomimetic Surfaces for Controlling Bacterial Attachment and Biofilm Development

“…Reid et al. [ 31 ] used double replica method to copy the structures of cicada wings on to a polymer substrate. In the first step, they used a UV‐curable polymer resin and drop‐casted the material onto the wing surface.…”

Nanoimprinting of Biomimetic Nanostructures

“…In [208] Zhang et al, used natural cicada wings as nanoimprint stamps for hot embossing. Reid et al [209] used UV-curing PEG to copy the structures of natural cicada wings two times to obtain the positive structure in the end again. They found the antimicrobial effect also in the PEG replicas.…”