Flexible, Angle-Independent, Structural Color Reflectors Inspired by Morpho Butterfly Wings
Thin-film color reflectors inspired by Morpho butterflies are fabricated. Using a combination of directional deposition, silica microspheres with a wide size distribution, and a PDMS (polydimethylsiloxane) encasing, a large, flexible reflector is created that actually provides better angle-independent color characteristics than Morpho butterflies and which can even be bent and folded freely without losing its Morpho-mimetic photonic properties.
Advanced Materials
10-04-2012
DOI: 10.1002/adma.201200289
Functional Fibers with Unique Wettability Inspired by Spider Silks
Spider silk has been an attractive biopolymer since ancient times. Learning from both its excellent properties and spinning process, silk provides people with inspiration to develop functional fibers. Recently, inspired by shiny water droplets on a spider's web, we revealed that the capture silk of the cribellate spider would deform to have a special periodic spindle-knots structure and hence displayed unique wettability, making it efficient at directional water-collecting. This provides insights in designing functional fibers with unique wettability, by either creating special structures on the fiber surface, or modifying it with responsive molecules. These bioinspired functional fibers may find applications in many fields, such as water collection, smart catalysis, filtration, and sensing.
Advanced Materials
10-04-2012
DOI: 10.1002/adma.201200289
