Riku Kataoka was born in Tsukuba and is currently a visiting student from Chuo University, having joined NIMS-MANA in 2026 under the supervision of Dr. Mizuki Tenjimbayashi. His research focuses on biomimetics, and he is motivated to gain expertise in surface chemistry.

Modulating droplet behavior on surfaces is important in various fields such as inkjet printing, pesticide spraying, and surface cleaning[1]. For effective surface cleaning, droplets need to sweep the surface without sticking. Superhydrophobic surfaces are promising for non-sticking droplets; however, impacting droplets can bounce or splash, which decreases cleaning efficiency. Here, we report surfaces that prevent the droplets from sticking and splitting while reducing bouncing. Our strategy is to equip superhydrophobic coating with an energy-dissipating function. Fig. 1 shows differences in bouncing behavior when changing surface design, where we find droplets neither stick nor split on our surface, and bouncing height is smaller.

1. M. Tenjimbayashi, JSAP Review 2024, 240212 (2024) DOI: 10.11470/jsaprev.240212