Study of Optical and Electrical Characteristics of chemically extracted Lotus and Taro Bio-Wax for Hydrophobic Surface Engineering

This study focuses on the development of a super-hydrophobic layer containing chemically extracted bio-waxes from lotus and taro leaves on silicon (Si) substrates. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR) have been performed to observe the structural properties and compositional functional groups of the relevant bio-waxes. Contact angle measurement is used to determine the hydrophobicity of the surfaces by measuring respective contact angles at the interface of liquid and bio-wax coated surface. Also, capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurement is performed to determine the dielectric properties of the waxes which indicate possible applications of such bio-derived materials in the domain of digital bio-microfluidics.