The blue iridescent wings of the tropical Morpho butterfly are inspiring a wide array of technologies, according to a recent international research. Several important findings are based on studies of this beautiful butterfly. Designs of modern fabrics, make-up and even displays are influenced by the research of these creatures.
A scientist team from the University of Exeter together with researchers from General Electric Global Research Center, University at Albany and Air Force Research Laboratory found out that the physical structure and the chemistry of the Morho butterfly’s wings have interesting properties, which could be used in a variety of useful ways. The design could be useful for protective fabrics, self-cleaning surfaces, photonic security tags and even industrial sensors.
The scales of these butterfly species’ wings absorb and reflect certain light rays the same as pigments and dyes do. This allows them to create color and dynamically control the light flow, which is great for regulating temperature as well as camouflage. The iridescent coloring is created by tiny tree-like microstructures instead of chemical pigmentation, which is the way we usually perceive colors. The nanostructures from which the wing scales are made, respond to gases differently on the top of the scales than the bottom, making them versatile even on nanoscale, while before it was believed, that such structures were possible only on microcsale.
The team of interdisciplinary scientists such as physicists, chemists, biologists and materials scientists unveiled the existence of surface polarity gradient which makes the Morpho butterfly scales so unique. This discovery creates a lot of possibilities when designing sensors or multicolored fabrics and similar materials. Usually sensors and multicolored fabrics are made out of a variety of separate sensors, but this finding can create sensors which work within a single chemically graded nanostructured sensing unit.
The understanding of iridescence in flying insects such as butterflies or moths, has revolutionized the understanding of natural photonics. Now scientists can work on applying these exceptionally small photonic sensors in a wide range of different technologies.
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