Large-scale replication of the hierarchical microstructure of bio-template is a long-standing challenge due to the large shrinkage when the bio-templates are burned off. In this work, TiO₂ based biomimetic metamaterials have been successfully synthesized by sputtering technique, followed by tape assisted transferring and thermal oxidation process. Tile-like arrays of the scale replicas with ridge-lamellae hierarchical microstructures have been obtained and exhibit bright blue-purple structure color. More interestingly, they exhibit significantly enhanced photocatalytic activity to decompose methylene blue under solar light illumination, with the degradation rate of methylene blue almost five times that of TiO₂ thin films with the same sample area. The enhancement in the visible light photocatalytic activity in TiO₂ replicas can be attributed to a synergy effect of the presence of Ti³⁺ doping, the air-TO₂ interaction, and hierarchical microstructure. The controlling factors that affect the microstructure, structural color and photocatalytic activity of the TiO₂ replicas have been discussed in detail. This work offers a scalable and precise approach to replicate various bio-templates based on transition metal oxides, such as ZnO, Fe₃O₄, CoO, and VO₂, thereby providing the new opportunity for infrared sensing, photocatalytic and photonic applications.

由于生物模板被烧掉时的大收缩，生物模板分层微观结构的大规模复制是一个长期存在的挑战。在这项工作中，通过溅射技术、胶带辅助转移和热氧化工艺成功合成了基于TiO ₂的仿生超材料。已经获得了具有脊状层状分层微结构的鳞片状复制品阵列，并呈现出明亮的蓝紫色结构颜色。更有趣的是，它们在太阳光照射下表现出显着增强的光催化分解亚甲蓝的活性，亚甲蓝的降解率几乎是 TiO _{2 的}五倍具有相同样品面积的薄膜。TiO ₂复制品中可见光光催化活性的增强可归因于Ti ³⁺掺杂的存在、空气-TO ₂相互作用和分级微观结构的协同效应。已经详细讨论了影响TiO ₂复制品的微观结构、结构颜色和光催化活性的控制因素。这项工作提供了一种可扩展且精确的方法来复制基于过渡金属氧化物（如 ZnO、Fe ₃ O ₄、CoO 和 VO _{2 ）的}各种生物模板，从而为红外传感、光催化和光子应用提供了新的机会。