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Bio-inspired Fibres Change Colour When Stretched

By Guest PostFebruary 6, 2013Sciencealfie lethbridge, bastard hogberry, bio inspired fibres, birds, blue colour, bright iridescent, cells, change colour, creation, cylindrical cross section, eye on earth, fruit, geographic area, Germany, harvard laboratories, harvard university, heat, joanna aizenberg, key elements, light and colour, ludwig maximilians university, margaritaria nobilis, mathias kolle, moritz kreysing, nanoscale, new fibre, peter vukusic, photonic fibres, polymer bilayer, pressure, principal investigator, seed, skin, smart fabrics, soap bubbles, south american, specific biological function, technological design, tropical plant, unique structural elements, university of exeter, vibrant colour, when stretched

A team of materials scientists at Harvard University and the University of Exeter has invented a new fibre which changes colour when stretched. Inspired by nature, the researchers identified and replicated the unique structural elements, which create the bright iridescent blue colour of a tropical plant’s fruit.

The multilayered fibre, described in the journal Advanced Materials, could lend itself to the creation of smart fabrics that visibly react to heat or pressure.

“Our new fibre is based on a structure we found in nature, and through clever engineering we’ve taken its capabilities a step further,” says lead author Dr Mathias Kolle, a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS). “The plant, of course, cannot change colour. By combining its structure with an elastic material, however, we’ve created an artificial version that passes through a full rainbow of colours as it’s stretched.” (more…)

How Butterfly Wings Can Inspire New High-Tech Surfaces

By Guest PostNovember 11, 2012Nature, Scienceaircraft, bacteria, bharat bhushan, butterfly, butterfly wings, catheter, coated, crude oil, electron microscope, fluid flow, giant blue, gregory bixler, high tech surfaces, iconic butterfly, industrial powder, jo mcculty, medical equipment, micrometer scale feature, microscopic texture, morpho butterfly, morpho didius, nano channel, Nanotechnology, Nature, ohio, ohio state university, oriza sativa, pipelines, plastic surface, rice leaves, silicon carbide powder, south american, watercraft, wings

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A South American butterfly flapped its wings, and caused a flurry of nanotechnology research to happen in Ohio.

Researchers here have taken a new look at butterfly wings and rice leaves, and learned things about their microscopic texture that could improve a variety of products.

For example, the researchers were able to clean up to 85 percent of dust off a coated plastic surface that mimicked the texture of a butterfly wing, compared to only 70 percent off a flat surface. (more…)

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Bio-inspired Fibres Change Colour When Stretched

How Butterfly Wings Can Inspire New High-Tech Surfaces