Creation of Material Functions by Nanostructuring

Abstract

Surface nanostructures provide the possibility to create and tailor surface functionalities mainly via controlling their topography along with other chemical and physical material properties. One of the most appealing technologies for surface functionalization via micro-and nanostructuring is based on laser processing. This can be done either via direct contour-shaping of the irradiated material using a tightly focused laser beam or in a self-ordered way that allows employing larger laser beam diameters along with areal scanning to create a variety of laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS). For the latter approach, particularly ultrashort pulsed lasers have recently pushed the borders across long-lasting limitations regarding the minimum achievable feature sizes and additionally boosted up the production times. This chapter reviews the plethora of recently investigated applications of LIPSS-for example, via imposing diffractive or plasmonic structural colors, the management of liquids and surface wetting properties, biomedical and bioinspired functionalities, beneficial effects in tribology for reducing friction and wear, the manipulation of optical scattering and absorption in photovoltaics, or the modification of magnetic or superconducting surface properties in other energy applications. The footprint of the LIPSS-based technology is explored in detail regarding the current state of industrialization, including an analysis of the market and associated LIPSS production costs.M. Mezera • J. Krüger • J. Bonse ( ) Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM),

Picosecond Laser Processing of Hierarchical Micro–Nanostructures on Titanium Alloy upon Pre‐ and Postanodization: Morphological, Structural, and Chemical Effects

“…[ 7 ] Such LIPSS enable a variety of surface functionalizations, including the development of bacteria‐repellent surfaces [ 8–10 ] or technical surfaces being antiadhesive for nanofibers, [ 11 ] the reduction of friction and wear, [ 12,13 ] and other applications. [ 7,14–18 ] At significantly higher laser fluences, other characteristic types of laser‐generated surface structures may form, such as periodic “grooves” or irregular micrometric “spikes” (sometimes called microcones). [ 19–21 ]…”