The use of plant waxes as templates for micro- and nanopatterning of surfaces

Small wax sculptures on plant surfaces are responsible for a variety of functions, including the maintenance of sability, self-cleaning properties, prevention of insect attachment and reflection of light. Here we report on a method for using recrystallized plant wax crystals on flat technical surfaces for generating micro- and nanopatterned polymers with particular functions. Therefore a more than 4-thousand year old replica technique called the “lost wax technique” has been adapted for reproduction of complex, high aspect ratio surfaces and the large scale reproduction of micro- and nanopatterned surfaces. Highly ordered pyrolytic graphite substrates, covered with perpendicularly oriented platelets formed by the primary alcohol octacosan-1-ol, the main component of wheat (Triticum aestivum) leaf waxes, were used as templates to make an epoxy resin surfaces with high aspect ratio platelets 400–700 nm wide and 10–50 μm thick. The technique holds great promise on the reproduction of micro- and nanopatterned surfaces.