The unique antiwetting properties of superhydrophobic (SH) surfaces prevent the adhesion of water and bodily fluids, including blood, urine, and saliva. While typical manufacturable approaches to create SH surfaces rely on chemical and structural modifications, such approaches are expensive, require postprocessing, and are often not biocompatible. By contrast, it is demonstrated that purely structural SH features are easily formed using high throughput roll-to-roll (R2R) manufacturing by shrinking a prestressed thermoplastic with a thin, stiff layer of silver and calcium. These features are subsequently embossed into any commercially available and Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved plastic. The R2R SH surfaces have contact angles >150° and contact angle hysteresis <10°. Importantly, the surfaces minimize blood adhesion, leading to reduced blood coagulation without the need for anticoagulants. SH surfaces have >4200× reduction of blood residue area compared to the nonstructured controls of the same material. In addition, blood clotting is reduced >5× using whole blood directly from the patient. Furthermore, these surfaces can be easily configured into 3D shapes, as demonstrated with SH tubes. With the simple scale-up production and the eliminated need for anticoagulants to prevent clotting, the proposed conformable SH surfaces can be impactful for a wide range of medical tools, including catheters and microfluidic channels.

Protein in urine can be detected using a simple colorimetric output by evaporating droplets on a superhydrophobic (SH) surface. Evaporation on a SH surface allows fluid to dramatically concentrate; the weak surface adhesion allows the droplet of fluid to constantly decrease its footprint area and contact diameter. On a SH surface, pure water completely evaporates. Molecules in solution, however, are confined to a footprint that is 8.5 times smaller than the original and are greatly concentrated. By concentrating molecules, a 160 times improved detection sensitivity is achieved compared to controls. With the low-cost fabrication method and simple technique, highly sensitive detection can be achieved in a low-cost platform. Utility is demonstrated by detecting protein in urine in the pre-eclampsia range (150–300 μgmL⁻¹) for pregnant women.

Dense multiscale silica (SiO₂) micro- and nanostructures are fabricated on a pre-stressed polymer film. This novel SiO₂ substrate serves as a robust platform to enhance the fluorescence signal of bound biomolecules. Through a combination of surface concentration, light scattering, and changes in the photophysical properties of the confined dye molecules, dramatic fluorescence signal enhancements (average = 116 times greater than on planar glass) and increased signal-to-noise ratio (76:1) are demonstrated with tetramethylrhodamine isothiocyanate (TRITC)-conjugated streptavidin (STRITC) on SiO₂ structures. Enhanced detection sensitivity of STRITC over glass on the SiO₂ structures is achieved down to a detection limit of 11 ng mL⁻¹. Such significant fluorescence signal enhancements have importance in practical applications such disease diagnostics and surface sensing.