Title: Bactericidal surfaces by biomimetics of the nanopillars on insect wings

Abstract

The wings of certain insects reveal exceptional properties such as super-hydrophobicity and self-cleaning abilities. In these aspects, they are comparable to the famous lotus leaf. Furthermore, the wings can also kill bacteria. Hexagonally arranged arrays of nanopillars (average height between 200nm and 500nm with a center distance of around 130nm) are responsible for mechanically destroying bacteria (notably without chemical bactericides). We investigated the wing surface structures of cicada and dragonfly species with Atomic Force Microscopy and Scanning Electron Microscopy. The study's main focus lies in analyzing antibacterial structure properties by introducing low-cost bioimprinting techniques to transfer these structures to artificial surfaces. Especially, the combination of Polyvinyl Siloxane (PVS) and 3D printing UV resin give is promising.