title: Does the aquatic invertebrate nipple array prevent bubble adhesion? An experiment using nanopillar sheets.
abstract: The nipple array is a submicrometre-scale structure found on the cuticle surfaces of various invertebrate taxa. Corneal nipples are an antiglare surface in nocturnal insects, but the functional significance of the nipple array has not been experimentally investigated for aquatic organisms. Using nanopillar sheets as a mimetic model of the nipple array, we demonstrated that significantly fewer bubbles adhered to the nanopillar surface versus a flat surface when the sheets were hydrophilic. Many more bubbles adhered to the hydrophobic surface than the hydrophilic surfaces. Bubbles on the body surface may cause buoyancy problems, movement interference and water flow occlusion. Here, bubble repellence is proposed as a function of the hydrophilic nipple array in aquatic invertebrates and its properties are considered based on bubble adhesion energy.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Science, University of the Ryukyus, Nishihara, Okinawa, Japan. euichi@sci.u-ryukyu.ac.jp
authors.forename: Euichi
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hirose
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mayama
authors.forename: Akihiro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Miyauchi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D007448:Invertebrates / Q000502:physiology*; D008386:Marine Biology; D049329:Nanostructures; D012623:Seawater
keywords: Cassie–Baxter state; bubble repellence; cuticle surface; nanoimprint