Nanostructures help naturally inspired solutions

Nanotechnology is making the science of copying nature ever more effective, with the result that biomimetic design principles are increasingly being used to solve industrial problems. Here DTI International Technology Promoter Martin Kemp reports on some of the technologies being developed.

Scientists at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden, are developing nanostructured surface technologies with enormous commercial potential. One project has seen them take materials modelled on a well-known biomimetic target – shark skin – to the next level by using their expertise in engineering at the nanoscale.

Materials that mimic the structure of shark skin, which is covered with tiny tooth-like, or ‘riblet’, structures that reduce drag, have already been used on racing yachts and swimsuits. Until now, though, few researchers have thought of applying highly engineered structures with riblets to the inside of pipes to reduce frictional resistance – and the energy requirements of air and fluid systems.