We report a facile, versatile and highly efficient self-patterning method for depositing functional coatings for poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) microfluidics, inspired by the wetting phenomena of the desert beetle and plant leaves. Driven by the solvent evaporation, fluoropolymer coatings have been demonstrated to deposit only on the roughened PDMS surfaces with exact coverage, conformal thickness, no clogging and good bonding strength, which significantly suppressed the swelling of PDMS by the organic solvent and the nonspecific adsorption of the fluorescent dye. © 2013 The Royal Society of Chemistry.