Electric field-aided formation combined with a nanoimprinting technique for replicating a plant leaf

The surface of the taro plant leaf was replicated using a nanoimprinting technique (NIT) supplemented with an electric field. This field-aided nanoimprinting method (FA-NIT) consists of two steps: applying an electric field to a liquid polymer under the plant leaves and the curing process of the polymer with the applied electric field. An appropriate electric field was needed to induce the electrokinetic phenomena of a liquid polymer to obtain a good replicated surface. The roughness fabricated by the FA-NIT was about 45% higher than the one prepared by NIT. The FA-NIT method is a good supplementary technique to improve the quality of NIT.