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Iridescent nanostructures: Letting cells do the work |
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Written by Thomas Hesselberg
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Thursday, 28 June 2007 |
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Nature often creates more complicated structures using less energy than we can with our technology. Engineers and biologists, therefore, work together in the field of biomimetics and use inspiration from nature to develop new technology. One promising area is the development of small nano-crystals to give surfaces an iridescent and/or a metallic look. Such visual effects are found in many birds, fishes and insects and are used to attract mates or startle predators. These effects have applications in a wide range of areas including the counterfeiting industry, in cosmetics and in paints. Traditionally biomimetic photonic crystals have been made by focused ion beam chemical vapour depositions. A method that relies on powerful ion beams to irradiate vapour free nitrogen radicals and other compounds at high temperatures onto a surface and thereby slowly building up the structure. This method, however, is very costly and thus only commercially relevant for production of very expensive nanostructures...
Researchers at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom have now found an alternative method to generate these optical crystals by extracting the crystal generating cells from animals and use viruses and single celled algae to fabricate complicated nano-structures. An example of the former is extraction of the cells that generate metallic scales in the Morpho butterfly. The extracted cells are kept alive and prompted to build scales by adding growth hormones to the culture. These scales can then be embedded in polymers and paints depending on the final application. Source: Parker, A.R. and Townley, H. E. (2007) Biomimetics of photonic nanostructures. Nature Nanotechnology 2: 347-353.
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