Advances in the application of biomimetic surface engineering in the oil and gas industry

Friction is widespread in almost every field in the oil and gas industry, and it is accompanied by huge energy losses and potential safety hazards. To deal with a series of questions in this regard, biomimetic surfaces have been developed over the past decades to significantly reduce economic losses. Presently, biomimetic surface engineering on different scales has been successfully introduced into related fields of the oil and gas industry, such as drill bits and the inner surfaces of pipes. In this review, we focused on the most recent and promising efforts reported toward the application of a biomimetic surface in oil and gas fields, indicating the necessity and importance of establishing this disciplinary study. Regarding the oil and gas industry, we mainly analyzed and summarized some important research results into the following three aspects: (i) applications in reducing the wear of exploration production equipment and its components, (ii) separation and drag release technologies in oil/gas storage and transportation, and (iii) functional coatings used in oil and gas development in oceans and polar regions. Finally, based on an in-depth analysis of the development of biomimetic surface engineering in the fields of oil and gas, some conclusions and perspectives are also discussed. It is expected that biomimetic surface engineering can be used in oil and gas fields more widely and systematically, providing important contributions to green development in the near future.