Fig. 1

Design of a synthetic Nepenthes pitcher plant. a, Concept of our water-based liquid infused surface inspired from the Nepenthes pitcher plant (image taken from⁵⁰, Copyright (2004) National Academy of Sciences, U.S.A.): A super-hydrophilic silica nanoparticle coating, analogous to the peristome of the pitcher plant, holds the water-xanthan lubricant, where xanthan stabilizes water similar to nectar in a pitcher plant. b, Bright field microscope images. c, SEM images of the nanoporous surface for two different particle sizes: with average diameter 7 nm and 40 nm; the average thickness of the nanoporous coating is 5.0 μm ± 1.0 μm and 20.3 μm ± 2.6 μm, respectively (Figure S1). d, Lubricant thickness for different xanthan (XG) concentrations on the two nanoporous surfaces (7 nm and 40 nm). Total lubricant thickness (circles) is obtained just after imbibing the lubricant. The mobile lubricant drains via gravity resulting in a gravity-stabilized lubricant thickness (squares). The dashed red and blue lines represent the thickness of the nanoporous coating for the 7 nm and 40 nm particles, respectively.