Nature‐Inspired Substrate‐Independent Omniphobic and Antimicrobial Slippery Surfaces

Inspired by the carnivorous Nepenthes pitcher plant, a range of highly liquid repellent lubricant-infused surfaces has been devised (low water droplet contact angle hysteresis and sliding values). This entails matching functional pulsed plasma polymer nanolayers with appropriate slippery lubricants. A molecular-level structure–behavior relationship is developed, highlighting importance favorable aromatic–aliphatic intermolecular interactions between coating lubricant. Fluorinated nanocoatings resist wetting liquids, spanning wide surface tensions (including pentane, motor oil, water, i.e., omniphobicity). In case natural antimicrobial compound-infused (e.g., essential oil cinnamaldehyde), multifunctional performance attained combining high repellency (self-cleaning) simultaneous strong antibacterial activity against both Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus Gram-negative Escherichia coli (log10 reduction > 7). addition, these easily repel variety everyday liquids foodstuffs such as tomato ketchup honey).