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Non-Contaminating Camouflage: Multifunctional Skin Microornamentation in the West African Gaboon Viper (Bitis rhinoceros)

The West African Gaboon viper (Bitis rhinoceros) has an extraordinary coloration of pale brown and velvety black markings. The velvety black appearance is caused by a unique hierarchical surface structures which was not found on the pale brown scales. In the present study we examined the wettability...

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Autores principales: Spinner, Marlene, Gorb, Stanislav N., Balmert, Alexander, Bleckmann, Horst, Westhoff, Guido
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3944882/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24599379
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0091087
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author Spinner, Marlene
Gorb, Stanislav N.
Balmert, Alexander
Bleckmann, Horst
Westhoff, Guido
author_facet Spinner, Marlene
Gorb, Stanislav N.
Balmert, Alexander
Bleckmann, Horst
Westhoff, Guido
author_sort Spinner, Marlene
collection PubMed
description The West African Gaboon viper (Bitis rhinoceros) has an extraordinary coloration of pale brown and velvety black markings. The velvety black appearance is caused by a unique hierarchical surface structures which was not found on the pale brown scales. In the present study we examined the wettability of the vipeŕs scales by measuring contact angles of water droplets. Velvet black scale surfaces had high static contact angles beyond 160° and low roll-off angles below 20° indicating an outstanding superhydrophobicity. Our calculations showed that the Cassie-Baxter model describes well wettability effects for these surfaces. Self-cleaning capabilities were determined by contaminating the scales with particles and fogging them until droplets formed. Black scales were clean after fogging, while pale scales stayed contaminated. Black scales feature multifunctional structures providing not only water-repellent but also self-cleaning properties. The pattern of nanoridges can be used as a model for surface-active technical surfaces.
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spelling pubmed-39448822014-03-10 Non-Contaminating Camouflage: Multifunctional Skin Microornamentation in the West African Gaboon Viper (Bitis rhinoceros) Spinner, Marlene Gorb, Stanislav N. Balmert, Alexander Bleckmann, Horst Westhoff, Guido PLoS One Research Article The West African Gaboon viper (Bitis rhinoceros) has an extraordinary coloration of pale brown and velvety black markings. The velvety black appearance is caused by a unique hierarchical surface structures which was not found on the pale brown scales. In the present study we examined the wettability of the vipeŕs scales by measuring contact angles of water droplets. Velvet black scale surfaces had high static contact angles beyond 160° and low roll-off angles below 20° indicating an outstanding superhydrophobicity. Our calculations showed that the Cassie-Baxter model describes well wettability effects for these surfaces. Self-cleaning capabilities were determined by contaminating the scales with particles and fogging them until droplets formed. Black scales were clean after fogging, while pale scales stayed contaminated. Black scales feature multifunctional structures providing not only water-repellent but also self-cleaning properties. The pattern of nanoridges can be used as a model for surface-active technical surfaces. Public Library of Science 2014-03-05 /pmc/articles/PMC3944882/ /pubmed/24599379 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0091087 Text en © 2014 Spinner et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Spinner, Marlene
Gorb, Stanislav N.
Balmert, Alexander
Bleckmann, Horst
Westhoff, Guido
Non-Contaminating Camouflage: Multifunctional Skin Microornamentation in the West African Gaboon Viper (Bitis rhinoceros)
title Non-Contaminating Camouflage: Multifunctional Skin Microornamentation in the West African Gaboon Viper (Bitis rhinoceros)
title_full Non-Contaminating Camouflage: Multifunctional Skin Microornamentation in the West African Gaboon Viper (Bitis rhinoceros)
title_fullStr Non-Contaminating Camouflage: Multifunctional Skin Microornamentation in the West African Gaboon Viper (Bitis rhinoceros)
title_full_unstemmed Non-Contaminating Camouflage: Multifunctional Skin Microornamentation in the West African Gaboon Viper (Bitis rhinoceros)
title_short Non-Contaminating Camouflage: Multifunctional Skin Microornamentation in the West African Gaboon Viper (Bitis rhinoceros)
title_sort non-contaminating camouflage: multifunctional skin microornamentation in the west african gaboon viper (bitis rhinoceros)
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3944882/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24599379
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0091087
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