• Applied Microscopy
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• 제42권2호
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• pp.95-103
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• 2012

연잎효과는 연꽃의 잎에서 규명된 현상으로 표피세포에서 기원하는 미세구조에 의해 물방울이 잎 표면이나 내부조직에 침투하지 않고 경사면으로 흘러내리며 표면 위 먼지나 이물질을 함께 떨어지게 한다. 잎 표면을 항상 깨끗한 상태로 유지하는 자기정화 능력인 연잎효과에 대해서는 여러 영역에서 연구되고 다방면으로 응용되고 있으나 구조적인 측면에서 연잎을 생장단계별 또는 표피조직 부위별로 비교 조사한 연구는 거의 없는 실정이다. 이에 본 연구에서는 연잎과 줄기를 대상으로 생장단계별, 부위별 표피조직의 미세 표면구조를 연구하여 연잎효과 표면 특성을 조사하였다. 본 연구에서 조사된 연잎효과는 미세돌기와 왁스결정체가 발달한 잎의 상피조직에서만 나타나고, 왁스결정체만 발달한 하피 및 줄기의 표피조직에서는 확인되지 않았다. 이는 미세돌기의 발달이 연잎효과를 나타내는데 가장 중요한 요인이고, 왁스결정체가 돌기표면 위에 축적되면 연잎효과는 더 증가하는 것으로 밝혀졌다.

• Applied Microscopy
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• 제42권3호
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• pp.124-128
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• 2012

Leaf surface structures were investigated in the Chinese juniper Juniperus chinensis by scanning electron microscopy. Adult scale leaves were collected from the tree, air-dried at room temperature, and sputter-coated with gold without further specimen preparation. Approximately fi ve stomata were locally distributed and arranged in clusters on the leaf surface. Stomata were ovoid and ca. 40 ${\mu}m$ long. The epicuticular wax structures of J. chinensis leaves were tubules and platelets. Numerous tubules were evident on the leaf regions where stomata were found. The tubules were cylindrical, straight, and ca. 1 ${\mu}m$ in length. They almost clothed the stomatal guard cells, and occluded the slit-shaped stomatal apertures. Moreover, the wax ridges were flat crystalloids that were connected to the surface by their narrow side. They did not have distinct edges, and their width/height ratio varied. In particular, the wax ridges could be discerned on the leaf regions where stomata were not present nearby. Since the wax ridges did not have distinct edges on their margin, they were identified as platelets. Instances were noted where platelets were oriented either parallel to each other or perpendicular to the cuticle surface. These results can be used in biomimetics to design the hierarchical structures for mimicking the plant innate properties such as hydrophobicity and self-cleaning effects of the leaf surface.

• 한국진공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국진공학회 2012년도 제43회 하계 정기 학술대회 초록집
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• pp.389-390
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• 2012

In this study, we fabricate a superhydrophobic surface made of hierarchical nanostructures that combine wax crystalline structure with moth-eye structure using vacuum cluster system and measure their hydrophobicity and durability. Since the lotus effect was found, much work has been done on studying self-cleaning surface for decades. The surface of lotus leaf consists of multi-level layers of micro scale papillose epidermal cells and epicuticular wax crystalloids [1]. This hierarchical structure has superhydrophobic property because the sufficiently rough surface allows air pockets to form easily below the liquid, the so-called Cassie state, so that the relatively small area of water/solid interface makes the energetic cost associated with corresponding water/air interfaces smaller than the energy gained [2]. Various nanostructures have been reported for fabricating the self-cleaning surface but in general, they have the problem of low durability. More than two nanostructures on a surface can be integrated together to increase hydrophobicity and durability of the surface as in the lotus leaf [3,5]. As one of the bio-inspired nanostructures, we introduce a hierarchical nanostructure fabricated with a high vacuum cluster system. A hierarchical nanostructure is a combination of moth-eye structure with an average pitch of 300 nm and height of 700 nm, and the wax crystalline structure with an average width and height of 200 nm. The moth-eye structure is fabricated with deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) process. $SiO_2$ layer is initially deposited on a glass substrate using PECVD in the cluster system. Then, Au seed layer is deposited for a few second using DC sputtering process to provide stochastic mask for etching the underlying $SiO_2$ layer with ICP-RIE so that moth-eye structure can be fabricated. Additionally, n-hexatriacontane paraffin wax ($C_{36}H_{74}$) is deposited on the moth-eye structure in a thermal evaporator and self-recrystallized at $40^{\circ}C$ for 4h [4]. All of steps are conducted utilizing vacuum cluster system to minimize the contamination. The water contact angles are measured by tensiometer. The morphology of the surface is characterized using SEM and AFM and the reflectance is measured by spectrophotometer.