Discovery of the surface polarity gradient on iridescent Morpho butterfly scales reveals a mechanism of their selective vapor response

For almost a century, the iridescence of tropical Morpho butterfly scales has been known to originate from 3D vertical ridge structures of stacked periodic layers of cuticle separated by air gaps. Here we describe a biological pattern of surface functionality that we have found in these photonic str...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS 2013-09, Vol.110 (39), p.15567-15572
Main Authors: Potyrailo, Radislav A., Starkey, Timothy A., Vukusic, Peter, Ghiradella, Helen, Vasudev, Milana, Bunning, Timothy, Naik, Rajesh R., Tang, Zhexiong, Larsen, Michael, Deng, Tao, Zhong, Sheng, Palacios, Manuel, Grande, James C., Zorn, Gilad, Goddard, Gregory, Zalubovsky, Sergey
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adsorption
Animal Structures - anatomy & histology
Animal Structures - drug effects
Animals
Biological Sciences
Butterflies & moths
Butterflies - anatomy & histology
Butterflies - drug effects
Computer Simulation
Fluorescence
Geomagnetic polarity time scale
Morphology
Multivariate analysis
Nanostructures
Optical Phenomena
Optical reflection
Oxygen - pharmacology
Photonics
Physical Sciences
Pigmentation - drug effects
Reproducibility of Results
Sensors
Spectral reflectance
Spectral sensitivity
Surface Properties
Vapors
Volatilization - drug effects
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:For almost a century, the iridescence of tropical Morpho butterfly scales has been known to originate from 3D vertical ridge structures of stacked periodic layers of cuticle separated by air gaps. Here we describe a biological pattern of surface functionality that we have found in these photonic structures. This pattern is a gradient of surface polarity of the ridge structures that runs from their polar tops to their less-polar bottoms. This finding shows a biological pattern design that could stimulate numerous technological applications ranging from photonic security tags to self-cleaning surfaces, gas separators, protective clothing, sensors, and many others. As an important first step, this biomaterial property and our knowledge of its basis has allowed us to unveil a general mechanism of selective vapor response observed in the photonic Morpho nanostructures. This mechanism of selective vapor response brings a multivariable perspective for sensing, where selectivity is achieved within a single chemically graded nanostructured sensing unit, rather than from an array of separate sensors.
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.1311196110