New surfaces “without” chemistry? About bioinspired microtopographic material surfaces – And why we sent them also into space

Living nature uses much less chemical diversity than we do in our technical systems. On the other hand, living nature achieves relevant additional functionalities through evolutionarily excellently optimized and extremely diverse meta-surfaces, mainly in the scale of micrometers and sub-micrometers. Therefore, also we should learn to use this powerful additional degree of freedom for surface functionalization by tailored periodic microtopography. The good news is - practically any periodic surface structure has become efficiently possible through well-defined interference patterning of high-power coherent laser beams. Whether tribology or electrical resistance, whether antimicrobial properties, wetting or plagiarism protection - the variety of functionalization is fascinating. In addition, the increasing variety of pulsed lasers, from ns-pulses that heat and melt the metallic surface to extremely short fs pulses, makes de facto all solid surfaces patternable, also with high efficiency and technological speeds of up to m²/min. We have named that technology Direct Laser Interference Patterning (DLIP), which is now a very versatile innovation platform for new “metasurfaces” and the basis for our spin-off (www.surfunction.com). The talk will discuss examples of the various functionalization with significant functional effects, as well as the recent extensive experiments on antimicrobial material surfaces in space based on DLIP, that NASA and ESA will use to support the health of astronauts on the ISS and, in the future, also on Moon and the Mars.

Dr.-Ing. Frank Muecklich has been Head of the Institute for Functional Materials at Saarland University in Saarbruecken since 1995 as well as the Founding Director of the Material Engineering Center Saarland (MECS) since 2009. He is the official Spokesperson for the German Academy of Science and Engineering, acatech, for Materials Science and Engineering since 2022. Frank Mücklich is also Editor of the monthly international journal "Practical Metallography - Preparation, Imaging and Analysis of Microstructures" (De Gruyter Publisher). He has served as President of the German Society for Materials (DGM) and is a Fellow of the American Society for Materials (ASM). His main research areas are: (1) New surface functionalizations by Direct Laser Interference Patterning and (2) Micro-, nano- and atomic-scale microstructural research, including the use of tomographic methods and artificial intelligence. He published more than 500 peer reviewed publications, guided more than 60 young scientists to PhD. For his scientific work he has received more than 20 national and international awards, including some highest awards for his lifetime achievements like the Henry-Clifton-Sorby Award from ASM and the Emil-Heyn-Medal from the DGM.